Sari and Optimus
by FictionFan1024
Summary: New story (Don't worry, still working on "Sari Sumdac, Cyber Ninja" series). Takes place 20 years after "Sari Sumdac, Cyber-Ninja". Sari is now 38 years old (although thanks to her Spark her human form looks no older than 21). In this story are other characters, with names and personalities drawn from other continuities. However, this is not a crossover, more of a "homage".
1. Chapter 1

**Sari is now 38 years old (although thanks to her Spark her human form looks no older than 21). She is Cybertron's most powerful Cyber-Ninja, and is a member of the Cybertron Elite Guard. The Autobot High Council has assigned her and Optimus as partners, and their mission is to assist Earth and the lunar and Martian colonies in battling the Decepticons.**

**Sari regularly shuttles between Earth's Solar system and Cybertron's Hadeed system, acting as advisor, protector, and ambassador, meeting with the Autobot High Council and earth's governmental heads. Optimus oversees the Autobot/Human combined forces guarding the Terran, Lunar, and Martian defensive systems.**

**Sumdac Interplanetary Systems is now being run by Dr. Adam Witwicky. He and Mikaela are married, and have two kids. They live on the lunar colony.**

**Bumblebee runs Farside Beacon One, and Bulkhead manages the space bridges. There are three on earth, two on the moon, and one on the Martian colony.**

**Sari had just arrived back on the Martian colony from Earth, and sat down with Optimus at the Autobot Headquarters. She and Optimus were beginning to discuss their status meeting, when they received an urgent message from earth.**

"Welcome back, Sari! How are all your projects going? Did that meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister go well?"

"Very well, Optimus," she said. "Mainframe couldn't be happier! He's been working with Japan's Ministry of Science on that new fusion power generator. It's on schedule to be installed here on the Martian colony, to better manage their grid. Once they have it up and running it will increase the colony's power capabilities by at least 150%. This will finally give Bulkhead a chance to install that second space bridge."

"He's been wanting to get that second one up for quite some time," said Optimus.

"Exactly. If he told me once, he's told me a thousand times he wanted a backup unit up here."

"More exciting news! My Cybertron/Earth task force is hard at work negotiating the first draft of the United Interplanetary Charter, to which our two planets will be the flagship signatories. Oh, and you'll be happy to know that our bi-planetary legal team was successful in arguing their case with the Intergalactic Court of Justice regarding Megaton's appeal; his clemency release was denied."

"You've been one busy technorganic, Sari," he smiled.

"Keeps me out of trouble!" Sari laughed. "So, how are the security beacons coming along?"

"We've got a third of them circling the outer perimeter," said Optimus, but it will be at least another 75 stellar cycles before we can have the entire circumference of the Martian orbit covered. Still, they'll serve their purpose as a beacon against Decepticon attacks."

"Excellent! I just wish we could capture Strika," she sighed. "I've been chasing that Decepticon around the galaxy for 20 stellar cycles now."

"Patience, Sari," said Optimus, smiling. "Your Spark is young; you know we Cybertronians have been battling her for millions of stellar cycles – a lot longer than even MY protoform!"

"You're right, as usual," she smiled back, "that's why you're the senior partner."

Their meeting was suddenly interrupted by a call: "Urgent message from earth for Sari Sumdac."

"Oh no," she groaned, don't tell me the task force negotiations have fallen apart this soon!" She reached over and accepted the call. "Sari Sumdac here."

"Aunt Sari? This is your nephew Ravi calling. I'm afraid I have bad news; your father is in the hospital; the doctors say he does not have much longer to live."

"What? What happened?"

"He was in his lab and fell. He hit his head and suffered a concussion but it led to a hemorrhage. He comes in and out of consciousness."

"Tell the family I am on my way," she said, and hung up. She looked at her partner. "Oh, Optimus!"

"I'm coming with you," he replied. Leaving the conference room, they went immediately to the Martian travel terminal. They jumped into the space bridge and arrived on the roof of Sumdac Tower. Sari hurried to the hospital and Optimus went to Autobot Central.

When Sari arrived at his room, Isaac was unconscious. He was in the ICU with many wires, IVs and catheters attached. His hair, now all white, had been shaved at one end.

She reached over and held her father's hand. "Dad? Dad? I'm here."

Isaac squeezed her hand back.

Sari spent the night at her father's side, holding his hand.

Optimus contacted Bumblebee and Bulkhead to let them know what had happened. Bumblebee was busy managing the team building new units on the Lunar Colony, while Bulkhead was off making repairs to the Sydney, Australia space bridge. "I think you need to come to Detroit ASAP," he told them.

Early next morning, Sari contacted Optimus. "Dad's gone," she said.

"I'm so sorry," he replied. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Please let the Autobots know. I'm going to be making the arrangements for the funeral. Can you meet me at the hospital in about a megacycle? There are some things we need to do by the river's edge, and I could use every bot's help."

"Of course, Sari. Will see you then."

There was a great deal that needed to be done. Although he had retired from Sumdac Interplanetary Systems, Isaac was still a prominent and well regarded member of Detroit society. Sari contacted Mayor Augustus Edsel Jr. "Would it be possible to have an area for our use down by the river's edge?" she asked.

"Certainly, Sari! Let my office make all the necessary arrangements – just tell me what you need!" She communicated all of the things that will be required for the funeral.

She then put in a call to Adam at Sumdac. He was down on earth for a series of board meetings. "Oh no! Sari, please accept my sincere condolences! Mikaela is on the moon with the kids; I don't know if she can make it down in time."

"Oh, that's OK, Adam, I understand," Sari replied.

"The board and I will be there for the funeral, just let me know when and where, OK?"

"Thank you, Adam. It will mean a great deal to me and my family," she said.

Ravi came in to the hospital room where she was making phone calls. "Aunt Sari? The family is here from Paw Paw."

"Excuse me, Adam, but my family has arrived; I'll talk to you later."

"You hang in there, Sari!" Adam hung up. Sari put the phone down and closed her eyes. There were so many things to take care of, and very little time in which to do it.

Isaac's Funeral

All of Detroit's notables were present. At the head were Mayor Augustus Edsel, Jr. and his assistant; Dr. Adam Witwicky; the Sumdac Interplanetary Systems Board of Directors; and Autobots Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Jazz, Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Glyph.

Sari had explained to the guests that mourners at a Hindu funeral wear simple, white, casual clothes. Dress down, not up, so there was no pomp and circumstance.

The funeral procession carrying the body of Professor Sumdac arrived, and the pallbearers picked up the open stretcher. Isaac's body was almost completely covered with flowers including roses, jasmine, and marigolds. Sari and her relatives carried the stretcher on their shoulders down to the shores of the Detroit River. There, the city had cleared an area for the cremation grounds.

Sari was at the front, and was dressed for the funeral in traditional all-white Hindu garb. She was barefoot, and wore a plain, white cotton salwar kameez and saree, with a matching dupatta draped around her head and across the front of her neck and wrapped around so that the sides hung at the front and back of her body.

"Wow! Sari's beautiful!" thought Bulkhead.

Sari and the Autobots had prepared the cremation ground beforehand. Called shmashana, it contained two enormous rectangular stone slabs stacked on top of each other, upon which Sari had laid the wood for the pyre, and upon this the pallbearers laid Isaac's stretcher. It faced southward so that the deceased could walk in the direction of the dead.

As chief mourner, Sari walked slowly around the pyre three times keeping the body to her left as a Hindu priest said the prayers. While walking she sprinkled water onto the pyre from a vessel. As a final farewell, Sari then walked down to her father's feet, and putting her hands together in the asian gesture of añjali mudrā, she bent down to touch his feet to her forehead as a show of respect. Picking up a torch, she then set the pyre alight.

As Sari lit the pyre, Optimus called out "Autobots! Stand at attention!" There they stood in formation while the fire began to consume Isaac's body. Sari stood by the pyre, head lowered, tears running down her cheeks.

The Autobots remained silent during the entire time, out of respect for Sari and the mourners. Glyph watched everything with great interest. Bumblebee, however, registered intense sadness on his face, as did Bulkhead. Optimus was also very sad for his partner, but remained stoic.

Sari stepped down from the pyre to thank all the guests for coming. "Please feel free to leave any time. My family and I will stay until the fire has gone out." Sari's family and the Autobots stayed the entire time.

The funeral pyre burned the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. Family members added wood, hay and twigs to keep the fire burning steadily. After the fire had consumed the body, Sari, her family, and the Autobots prepared to leave. Each Autobot came up to Sari to offer their personal condolences.

Ratchet: "Hey, kid, I'm terribly sorry about your Dad. You hang in there!"

Jazz: "Sari, my Spark is in distress over your loss. I will meditate for your strength."

Bumblebee: "Oh, Sar! I feel so bad about all this. You be OK, alright?"

Arcee: "Oh, Sari, of all the humans, I've met, your father was the kindest! I shall miss him!"

Bulkhead: "Sari, I am very sad right now. Please be OK, alright?"

Wheeljack: "Your father was a great scientist, Sari. He will be missed."

Glyph: "I'm so very sorry for your loss, Sari."

Optimus Prime: "Sari, your father was the most honorable man I've ever known. In all my stellar cycles I have not met another like him! Please accept what feelings of sorrow my Autobot Spark can offer, because I know it falls short of a human heart."

Sari thanked each Autobot one by one, and then turned to her family to thank them. She returned to the Sumdac residence to perform the Hindu rituals that follow cremations. Mayor Edsel had assigned a police detail to keep an all-night watch on the shmashana.

The next day, she returned to the cremation ground to collect her father's mortal remains and put them in an urn. With the Hindu priest, these remains were prayed over and immersed in the river.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee stayed at Autobot Central before returning to their work locations.

"How long will Sari be away?" Bumblebee asked Optimus.

"There are two more deca-cycles left to her culture's practices," explained Optimus.

"Poor Sari. Now I understand why it was a dumb thing for me to say what I said way back then."

"Huh? What are you talking about, big guy?" asked Bumblebee.

"Way back, when Sari first told us she was going to live for millions of stellar cycles. Like a big dummy, I blurted out, 'What will happen if Sari outlives all the humans?' Me and my big mouth!"

"Bulkhead, she understands," said Optimus. "I'm sure she wouldn't want you to be so hard on yourself."

"I know, I know," he said. "Still, I gotta think of something to do for her, to show her I'm thinkin' of her."

**Well, that's what was in my mind for the beginning of this book. Like I said, it will come slowly as I work on it for now. I've been wanting for a while to do one of Sari as an adult, and this came to mind. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sari is back at work, sitting in her office on Mars. It's been three weeks, so she needs to get back up to speed on things.**

Back at Cybertron headquarters on the Martian colony, Sari is catching up on her various projects.

She got on the video phone and contacted Nathan, her second-in-command at the United Interplanetary Charter task force.

"Sari! How are you doing? Great to see you!" said Nathan.

"Doing well, Nathan. How are the negotiations proceeding?"

"Not as smoothly as I would have hoped at this juncture, Sari," he said. "We've hit a bit of a snag with the discussions over interplanetary judicial sovereignty."

"What? I thought that issue had been ironed out months ago!"

"They were, but the Earth ambassadors became concerned when they heard about how close Megatron came to getting a clemency release. They didn't feel that Earth's concerns were adequately represented at the Intergalactic Court of Justice."

Sari groaned. "I testified at the court when the clemency release was being debated! After all, it was my city that Megatron almost destroyed! I could have talked some sense into those ambassadors. I'm so sorry, Nathan; I should have been with you when they began voicing their objections."

"But Sari, no, you couldn't have! Your Dad..."

"I know," she sighed. "Let me schedule some time to come down to Earth to help you."

While they were talking, one of the ambassadors entered Nathan's office. "Pardon me, Nathan, I..." He saw Sari's Autobot image on the video phone. "Ah, if it isn't the esteemed Madam Ambassador!" He greeted her in his usual unctuous manner, "How wonderful to see you! Again! We could certainly have used your assistance during these...delicate negotiations between our two planets."

"It is indeed a pleasure to see you as well, Ambassador Sauren," said Sari. "I must beg the task force's forgiveness. I was otherwise occupied these last few weeks."

"Yes," said Nathan. "I'm afraid Ambassador Sumdac's father passed away."

"Oh! I was not informed. My sincere condolences, Ambassador," said Sauren.

"Thank you, Ambassador," she replied. "I will rejoin the task force as soon as I am able." With that Sauren took his leave.

"Sorry about that," said Nathan, closing his office door. Checking to make sure Sauren was actually gone, he said, "that one was particularly difficult."

"I understand, Nathan. Forgive me for leaving you high and dry! I'll get there as soon as I can."

"Oh, it's alright Sari, I can handle him," he thumbed at the door and smiled, "and don't worry about getting here any sooner than you're able. We'll plod along. As you know, if there's one thing that ambassadors are very good at, it's scheduling meetings. Then they sit down at the meetings and talk. And talk. And talk some more," he chuckled.

Sari laughed. "Can't argue with you there, my friend. OK, I'll let you go; I'm going to check on my other projects," and she hung up.

Shortly after talking with Nathan, Sari received an urgent communiqué from Cybertron: Slipstream has escaped from prison!

"What's this?" she said. "How did she manage it?" Sari immediately contacted Sureshock at Trypticon Prison to get more information.

"Yes, Slipstream has escaped," Sureshock replied. "Somehow she managed to disable her mod restraints, and then she overpowered High Wire and Leader-1 before escaping over the prison walls. We just learned that she commandeered a space bridge and transwarped to the Terran moon."

"Not good! I take it you've notified Optimus?"

"Yes, and I assume he'll be contacting you as well," said Sureshock. "Now if you'll please excuse me Sari, I need to go to sick bay and check on Leader-1; I'm afraid he suffered some major damage in the attack."

Sure enough, as soon as Sari hung up on Sureshock she got a call from her partner. "Sari, I need you here on the moon. You've no doubt heard about Slipstream. She's already attacked Farside Beacon One. Luckily Bumblebee and Sandstorm were able to repel her before she did much damage, but we think she's headed over towards Megatron's old crashed warship."

"On my way," said Sari, and boarded the Martian space bridge, landing at Farside Beacon One. Bumblebee was botting the controls, and Optimus was waiting at the landing deck. "Good to see you, Sar!" said Bumblebee. "Wish it was under better circumstances."

"Same here, Bee," she said. "So where is Slipstream now?"

"She's headed towards Megatron's old wreck," said Optimus. "Let's go.

Optimus had already donned his flight wings and took off. Sari powered up the plasma thrusters on her pedes and servos and followed behind.

"There she is!" said Optimus. Slipstream was flying about 1000 Km ahead, coming towards the eastern rim of Copernicus. Optimus flew above and behind, while Sari dipped behind and below. Sari turned herself upside-down and slowly advanced until she was just below Slipstream. "Hey!" she yelled, looking up at Starscream.

"What the…?" Slipstream looked down and saw Sari, scowled, and fired a series of sonic pulse blasters at her. These blasts were easy for Sari to evade. "Oh, come on, Decepticon! Don't tell me that's the best you can do!" mocked Sari. Keeping Slipstream preoccupied in this manner allowed Optimus to force-land pede first right on her back, knocking her down and causing her to lose control. Slipstream crash landed on the lunar surface.

"You dirt-crawling fragging Autobots!" yelled Slipstream. "I'll tear both of you to pieces!" Optimus landed next to her, while Sari hovered above and circled around Slipstream, in case she tried taking off again. "Pile of scrap little brat!" yelled Slipstream, watching Sari, "When did you learn to fly?"

"Little trick I learned a few stellar cycles ago," Sari replied.

"I'll have to remember to tell that to my friends," sneered Slipstream. "Makes your bounty even that much higher!"

Optimus approached Slipstream to slap statis cuffs on her. Unfortunately, the moment he reached out, she blasted his shoulder and started to take off into the lunar sky. Optimus fell back, his left arm blown off.

Sari immediately trained her servos on Slipstream and blasted both wings clean off in mid-flight. "Aaaah!" screamed Slipstream as she crashed face first. Catching up to the point where Slipstream had landed, Sari then used her Circuit-Su to paralyze her. "What the slag is going on?" Slipstream yelled. "I can't move!"

"And that is exactly the way you will stay, until I re-enable your circuits!" said Sari.

"OK, OK, you can put the statis cuffs on," said Slipstream. "Just don't make me lay here like a piece of dead smelt!"

"Quiet you! Or I'll turn your comm circuits off as well!" threatened Sari.

Slipstream thus contained, Sari went back to her partner. "Optimus, I've contacted Firestar. She's on her way with a rescue squad."

"I'm alright, Sari," groaned Optimus. "I'm alright. That was very stupid of me. I should have seen that one coming."

"Don't berate yourself," she replied. "I should have done a better job of controlling her." Sari stayed with him until the rescue crew, and the lunar trooper bots arrived.

Later on, Sari went to go visit Optimus in the Farside Beacon One sick bay. "How's my partner doing, doc?"

"Just fine, Sari," said Firestar. I've reattached his arm, and he's good as new."

"Ready to go back to work, ma'am!" came a voice from behind Sari. She turned around to see Optimus, smiling.

"Hey there, how you doing?" she asked.

Just fine, Sari, see?" Rotating his left arm. "How's our little reprobate?"

"The Autotroopers have already picked her up - literally! They're back on Cybertron, and I assume she's getting reacquainted with her old cell," smiled Sari."

"What about her paralysis?" asked Optimus.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll be feeling better in about a deca-cycle," Sari smiled. I promised the Autotroopers an uneventful trip back to Trypticon Prison. She was making some interesting comments about my Technorganic heritage as they jumped into the space bridge."

"Well, you promised the Autotroopers an uneventful trip, not a quiet one," Optimus chuckled.

"Sar! How's it going!" said Bumblebee. He entered sick bay. With Slipstream taken care of, he wanted to reunite with his old pal.

"Hey Bee! Great to see you! Always exciting times here on the moon, eh?"

"You know it! Nothing boring with me in charge, you know that!"

"So, I hope Slipstream wasn't able to do much damage," she asked.

"Well, she knocked out our long-range sensors temporarily, but we had the backup up and running within a megacycle, so no worries."

"Makes me wonder what she wanted to do with Megatron's old crashed ship," said Optimus. "We ought to send a crew over there to see what might be hidden."

"I'll contact the Lunar colony and see if they can dispatch a human/bot crew over there to have a look," said Bumblebee.

"So give me a tour, Bee! I want to see how you guys are doing around here," said Sari. "It's been a while," she grinned.

"Alright, ma'am," chuckled Bee. "Right this way." And with an exaggerated flourish, Bumblebee led his "visitor" around Farside Beacon One.

Optimus chuckled to himself. "There go two-thirds of The Three Amigos."

From Farside Beacon One, Sari took the space bridge down to Earth, and traveled over to Nathan's office. "Hey, Nathan, I got here as soon as I could. Had a little bit of enforcement work on the moon to take care of."

"Hi, Sari! Thanks so much for coming. Ready to jump into the lion's den?" he smiled.

"Considering where I just came from, I think I can handle it. Let's go!" With that, the two walked towards the conference room. From outside, they could hear the arguing. As usual, Ambassador Sauren was instigating a heated discussion.

As they entered, Sauren spied Sari. "Well, if it isn't our sometime leader, Ambassador Sumdac!" he muttered to himself.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Sari said, "What can I do to aid your discussions?" And so began one of Sari's other main responsibilities.

**So Sari goes from one activity on the moon, with an opponent that, at minimum, will blast a bot's arm off, to earth, with an opponent that can cut to the quick with a snide remark or sabotage months worth of work. Two jobs, two completely different sets of skills. Both her responsibility! Thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Nathan thanked Sari for spending the week in New York helping get the Cybertron/Earth task force back on track.**

"Thanks for all your help this week, Sari," said Nathan. "I think we've finally got the task force back on track. We've made considerable progress on the United Interplanetary Charter – even Ambassador Sauren is satisfied with the draft!"

"My pleasure Nathan," she said. "They just needed a nudge, receiving first-hand information about what happened on that day in Detroit with Megatron's Omega Supreme clones, Starscream's bombs and Prowl's ultimate sacrifice that saved us all."

"The speech you gave was riveting," said Nathan. "You had the eyes and ears of everyone in the room."

"As you know, I was there 22 years ago," said Sari. "What I told everyone was the same testimony I gave at the Intergalactic Court of Justice."

"So, where are you off to now?"

"I've got an invitation to spend some time with the Witwicky family up on the Lunar Colony," Sari replied.

"Ooh, I'm jealous! There's a great spa up there."

"I might take advantage of that," she said, "but I'll probably just kick back and relax with Adam, Mikaela and the kids."

"How are you getting up there? Are you going to take the space bridge?"

"No, I'm gonna slow-boat it this time," she smiled. "Thought I'd unwind and take the shuttle."

"Well, have a great time – you've earned it!"

Nathan waved good bye as Sari left the Ambassador's offices. She grabbed a taxi to the shuttle terminal and boarded her flight.

Thanks to Cybertronian technology, shuttle trips to the moon in the late 22nd century took only four hours, just enough time for Sari to relax, and enjoy an in-flight cocktail.

"Excuse me, miss, but may I see some ID?" said the flight attendant.

"Of course," smiled Sari, and took out her Cybertronian identification card. The attendant glanced at it, frowned and looked back at Sari. "Uh, it says on this card that you are 38 years old, but…"

Sari was used to this treatment, looking no older than 21 in "human" mode, and knew what to do. A flash of blue and she changed over to "bot" mode. She turned to look back at the flight attendant, smiling.

Startled, the attendant blurted out, "Oh! Of course – my apologies ma'am!" She'd neglected to notice the "Technorganic" notation on the ID card. "I'll have your cocktail right away."

"Thank you," said Sari, and changed back to "human" mode.

Sari sipped her zero-g cocktail and gazed out the window as the moon grew ever larger. She reminisced about the first time she landed there, with Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Ratchet. "My gosh, 22 years ago," she said to herself. She put her head back, and remembered how they found Arcee, standing alone on the surface. "Oh, how happy Ratchet was!" she thought. "He ran to her – only to recoil in horror when he discovered what Shockwave had done to her processor." She frowned, and clenched her fist at the Decepticons' contempt for life.

Then Sari thought about how she used her "mojo" mod to help Ratchet bring Arcee back, and smiled. "I had no idea what I was telling him," she chuckled, "but it made sense to Ratchet, and boy, was I glad it worked!"

Taking another sip, her thoughts turned to those protoforms Bumblebee and Bulkhead found, and Sari felt a twinge of sadness, because it reminded her that she still hasn't uncovered the mystery of her own protoform, and how it appeared in her father's lab. "Maybe someday," she sighed.

At this point in its growth, the Lunar Colony supported a population of 2,500 humans and 350 Autobots. While there were a few buildings on the surface, the majority of the colony's structures were underground to protect it from micro-meteoroid impacts and solar radiation.

The shuttle drew closer to the moon, and Sari could sense its gravitational pull. The Captain piloted the craft around 180 degrees and used his retro rockets to back it onto the station's landing platform. After landing, the platform began its 50 meter descent down into the terminal's docking bay, while the station operators secured the shuttle to the bay platform. Once at the bottom, they hooked up the cables and hoses.

Systems secured, roof closed, the station's bay was pressurized as the lead space flight attendant announced doors to arrival, crosscheck and all-call.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Lunar Colony," said the Captain. "Local time is 1:40 PM." Sari and the rest of the passengers thanked the Captain and crew, and exited the shuttle.

Arriving at the terminal, Sari retrieved her bags and boarded a tram to the Witwicky home. Mikaela answered the door. "Sari!" She reached out and gave her a big hug. "Oh my gosh, it's so good to see you. I'm so sorry about your Dad." Mikaela started tearing. "Oh Sari, I wanted to come down to the funeral, but…the kids, and…I'm so sorry."

"Oh, good to see you too, Mikaela! Thank you! No, I understand!" she replied, hugging back. "It's OK, it's OK."

"Please, come on in," Mikaela said, wiping her tears, "the kids will be getting in from school soon. Can I make you some tea?"

"Thanks, that'll be great!" she replied.

"The guest room's down the hall, on the right. Put your bags down and get yourself settled in. I'll meet you in the kitchen," said Mikaela.

Sari unpacked her things and walked into the kitchen. Mikaela was pouring out two cups.

"So how's Optimus?" she asked Sari. "I heard about the incident with Slipstream."

"He's doing well," said Sari. "Firestar fixed him up and Slipstream's back in her cell on Cybertron."

"Glad to hear that! And how've you been?" she smiled. "Busy as usual, I assume?"

"Hey, you know me," Sari winked, "always getting myself involved in something. But it makes times like this, being with good friends, all the more precious."

Just then, there was a bang at the front door. "Mom? I'm home!"

"I'm in the kitchen, Ron! We have a guest." Nine-year old Ron came in. "Aunt Sari!" He dropped his school bag and ran into her arms.

"Hey, kiddo!" Sari gave him a big hug. "My gosh, you're getting so big! How's school?"

"School's great! Wanna see my new trophy? I got it for lacrosse!"

"Absolutely!" she said, and they went into Ron's room to see the latest addition to his trophy shelf.

Next to arrive was 14-year old Julie. "Hi, Mom! Is it OK if I go to the mall with my friends? We're all meeting at the food court for dinner."

"No, not today – we have company."

"But I told them I was coming! Everyone's going to be there! C'mon, I have to go!"

"I don't want to hear it, Julie! You can go to the mall another day."

"What?! No! This isn't fair!" She threw her school bag down.

"Sorry, I said 'No'. Don't you even want to know who is visiting?"

Julie crossed her arms and pouted. "Fine! Who is visiting, mother?"

"Your Aunt Sari."

Her attitude changed instantly. The pout disappeared. "Aunt Sari? Really?"

"Yes. I thought you might be interested," smiled Mikaela. Julie rolled her eyes sarcastically, but pulled her long hair behind her right ear – a sign her mom recognized; she WAS interested.

"When's she getting here?"

"She's here now," Mikaela answered. She's in Ron's room, looking at his trophies."

"Well, why didn't you tell me?" Julie answered back, and disappeared down the hall. Mikaela shook her head. "Sari, what is this magical hold you have on children?" she sighed.

Mikaela put down her tea and walked into the living room. A few minutes later, Sari and the kids came in. "Julie and Ron want to show me the new park," said Sari. Do we have enough time before dinner?"

"Oh plenty," said Mikaela. Be back about 6:00."

"Will do!" Sari replied. "OK kids, let's go!" And off they went.

Red Rock Park is landscaped to resemble a southwestern garden, with broad sandstone walks and curved beds. Plants include cacti, various succulents, yucca and Texas sage. Fremont cottonwood, velvet mesquite and alligator juniper trees complete the habitat. "This is gorgeous!" said Sari.

"They just completed it a couple weeks ago," said Julie. "They imported the plants and trees from Arizona. They use less water, so it's easier to have up here."

"They keep it hot and sunny here, too," said Ron, pointing to the overhead light shafts. The Lunar Colony receives solar light and energy from the surface, but filters keep out the dangerous radiation, and bring light down through shafts that can illuminate sunlight throughout. In the case of Red Rock Park, it is regulated to match the intensity of an Arizonan climate.

Sari and Julie found an empty park bench and sat down. Ron decided to try a nearby climbing wall.

"Aunt Sari, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure! Ask away!"

"You and Mom are the same age, right?" Sari nodded. "So, how come she's got wrinkles and you look so young?"

"It's because I'm a Technorganic," Sari explained. "My Spark keeps my human side looking 21 years old, as long as it keeps working."

"Your Spark?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Technorganics have a Spark in place of a human heart. It's the same as Autobots. Since I'm half human, I have Autobot organs inside."

"So you'll never get old? How long will you live?"

"I'll live as long as an Autobot. They live for millions of years. And I'm not 100% sure what I'll look like in a few million years," she smiled. "I might have a wrinkle or two – who knows?"

"Millions of years…" Julie said, her voice petering away. She put her arm around Sari and rested her head on Sari's shoulder.

"Aunt Sari?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry about your Dad."

"Thanks, sweetie," said Sari, and kissed her on the head.

It was getting close to 6:00. "OK Ron, time to head back!" called Sari. Ron scrambled down from the wall and the three went back for dinner.

"Sari! Great to see you again!" Adam got up from his chair and greeted her when they entered the living room.

"Hey Adam! How are you?" Sari gave him a hug. "I really appreciate you and Mikaela letting me hang out. It's just what I need."

"You're welcome here anytime! So how did you like Red Rock Park?"

"It's beautiful, Adam! Did Sumdac design the climate system?"

"Yep. We take in the solar energy and light from the surface and bring it down to mimic the Arizona sunshine. We even let it have an occasional southwestern rain," he smiled.

"Wow! Now that's impressive! My Dad would be proud!" Sari smiled.

"Thanks, Sari. That's a compliment!"

"So, what do you make of this incident with Slipstream?" Sari asked. "Any ideas as to what she might have been looking for over at Megatron's old wreck?"

"They're sending a human/bot crew over there tomorrow to investigate," said Adam. "You know, I was thinking: is it possible that Starscream may have planted something underground all those years ago?"

"That's a distinct possibility, hon," said Mikaela to Adam. "I've been researching the history of that site, and no one has ever investigated below the surface."

"You should join the crew, Sari," said Adam. "I think you can give them some valuable guidance."

"That's an excellent idea," Sari responded. "Let me get in contact with Optimus. His team would be interested in whatever we might uncover."

"I'll reach out to the crew Captain," said Adam. "I'm sure she'll appreciate the help.

The chef bot came into the living room and spoke to Mikaela. "Alright everyone," Mikaela said, "dinner's ready. We can continue our business talk later – now, let's eat!" And they all headed into the dining room.

**So Sari's enjoying her time off with the Witwicky family on the Lunar Colony, but even on vacation she can't resist an opportunity to get involved in work. Where will this exploration into Megatron's old crashed ship lead? We shall see! Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sari and Adam meet up with the Captain of the crew going to explore Megatron's crashed ship**

Next morning, Sari had breakfast with Julie and Ron, before they left for school. "Are you going exploring today, Aunt Sari?" asked Ron.

"Yes," she said, "Your Dad spoke with the crew Captain, and I spoke with my partner, Optimus. Your Dad and I will be helping the crew explore an old shipwreck."

"Cool! Can I come with you?" Ron asked. "Maybe it has buried treasure!"

"Well, we're not sure what it has," laughed Sari. "But you've got school, kiddo," she winked.

"You'll be coming back, won't you?" asked Julie.

"Of course, sweetie! I'm not leaving yet!" she said, and gave both of them hugs as they got up to head off to school. "Have a good day! See you when I return!"

"Bye Aunt Sari!" said Ron and Julie. Sari waved goodbye, and sat back down with her cup of tea.

"Those two sure love you," said Mikaela.

"And I them," Sari responded. "You and Adam are doing such a wonderful job up here. You all are my private sanctuary," she smiled.

"Good morning, Sari, good morning, hon!" Said Adam, greeting the two.

"Morning, hon!" said Mikaela, giving him a kiss.

"Morning, Adam!" said Sari, giving a hug. How'd you sleep?

"Oh great, Sari, thanks! Terrific dinner last night, Mikaela," he said smiling. Sari nodded.

"Oh, you two! I just pick out the menu," she demurred, "the robo chef does the rest."

"Well, it was delicious nonetheless," said Sari. "Thanks!"

"So what time are you two heading up to the surface?" asked Mikaela.

Adam poured himself some coffee. "I spoke with Captain Nakadai last night. She would like us to meet her up at the top of the elevator at 10:00. We can leave after breakfast."

* * *

Adam donned his space suit, and Sari switched to "bot" mode before they took the elevator up to the lunar surface. Captain Nakadai was waiting for them at the elevator doors.

"Adam, good to see you again," she said. "And you must be Sari Sumdac."

"That's right, Captain," said Sari. "Nice to meet you."

"We appreciate your assistance, Sari. I hear you took down the Decepticon Slipstream, who was trying to get to the crashed ship."

"My partner, Optimus Prime and I intercepted her before she arrived, yes," said Sari. "We were able to get Slipstream back to her prison cell on Cybertron. That was when we began wondering what might still be attracting Decepticons to the crash site."

"We're wondering, Captain, whether there might be something underneath the ship," said Adam.

"Quite possibly," she said. "No one ever thought to look underneath. We may have to do some extensive explorations."

They walked toward the shuttlecraft. Captain Nakadai turned to Sari. "We'll have a crew of seven on this initial expedition: three humans and three Autobots. You make the seventh. Am I correct in saying that as a Technorganic, Sari, you straddle both groups?"

"Correct," Sari responded. "I am half human, half Autobot."

"Got it, thanks," she said. "I've worked extensively with my Autobot partners, but haven't had the opportunity to work with a Technorganic. In your Autobot mode, you should have better maneuverability in and out of the crash site than me or my human crew. I also understand from my briefings with Adam that you are a Cyber-Ninja, with powerful defensive and offensive capabilities?"

"Yes, I am. While I don't expect us to meet up with any dangers, I can certainly assist in that area."

"Excellent! Again, thanks for your help."

They came to the shuttle craft, being readied for takeoff. The rest of the crew was already aboard. Captain Nakadai brought Adam and Sari inside.

"You all know Dr. Witwicky," she said to the group. "I'd like to introduce the seventh member of our team. This is the Technorganic Sari Sumdac, who you may know as Optimus Prime's partner. Sari is a Cyber-Ninja and a member of Cybertron's Elite Guard. We're very fortunate to have her join us on this expedition."

"Sari, I'd like you to meet Lieutenant Darby, Crosshairs, Lancer, and Longrack."

"Pleased to meet you," said Sari, as she went around and met each member of the crew.

"Well, let's head out to Megatron's ship," said Nakadai, and piloted the shuttle away from the base site.

The wreck of the Nemesis was about an hour's shuttle ride away. "Have you been involved in prior investigations?" asked Sari.

"Only of the exterior," said Nakadai. "Earlier expeditions had gone inside, but what useful items that may have been available were removed by Autobot Intelligence, lest they fall back into Decepticon hands."

"Makes perfect sense," said Sari.

"It's remarkable that after almost 25 years, there hasn't been a thought to look below the surface," said Adam.

"It's quite possible," said Sari, "that any secrets below the Nemesis died with Starscream. No one had knowledge of the things he might have been doing, with one exception, and that was Slipstream. We were lucky to have recaptured her before she completed her mission."

"There it is," said Nakadai. The wreck of the Nemesis, its hull sticking out of the lunar surface like a lawn dart, loomed on the horizon. "Starscream certainly stunk at landing," she observed wryly. Everyone laughed.

Even a half-buried Decepticon battleship still managed to dwarf the shuttle craft. Sari gazed up at the enormous hulk as it towered above them, and wondered how Optimus and the crew of Teletran-1 must have felt seeing it for the first time.

Captain Nakadai rounded the hull and landed the shuttle near the aft section of the ship. The crew discussed their plan.

"Sari, you, Crosshairs, and Lancer go and board the ship. Descend into the part that crashed below the surface and look for any entrances that might lead to underground areas."

"Darby, Witwicky, and Longrack, you begin checking the exterior grounds for entrances. I will take the shuttle up and run a 1 Kilo scan of the surrounding area. The sensors may detect the existence of underground tunnels or openings."

"Alert the rest of the crew if you find anything."

Everyone took off for their respective areas.

Sari, Crosshairs and Lancer located the entrance that had been used by Cybertron Intelligence, opened the hatch and went inside. Sari entered first. Crosshairs and Lancer followed behind, using their Autobot Lights to illuminate the interior. The deck went down at an acute angle, so the bots used the mags on their pedes to steady their descent. Sari scanned the walls as she went along, looking for signs of a hidden doorway. "Sari, do you need a light?" asked Crosshairs. "I'm good, thanks," she responded. "I can see in the dark."

"You can?" Asked Lancer, "How, if I may ask?"

"My optics can pick up the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from infrared to ultraviolet," she explained.

"That's a pretty cool mod," said Lancer.

"What's everyone's status so far?" Asked the Captain.

"Still making our descent," said Sari. "nothing discovered yet."

"Nothing on the outside Captain," said Lieutenant Darby.

Starting my scans, said Nakadai.

Everyone continued on their routes. Suddenly, Nakadai cut in. "Team, I'm picking up something," she said. "There appears to be a large rectangular shape about 50 meters below the surface of the Nemesis. It extends beyond the ship in length and width. Depth estimated to be about 200 meters. Shielding prevents me from scanning the interior."

"Starscream must have an entrance here somewhere," Sari said. "Probably down towards the bow, if the underground site goes from 50 to 200 meters below the surface."

"Do you think he would have planted any booby traps?" asked Lancer.

"That's a good question, Lancer," said Sari. "You never know. If we locate an entrance, we'll have to be extremely careful."

They continued their descent down towards the bow of the Nemesis. "All of the equipment is stripped out," said Crosshairs, scanning from side to side. "Cybertron Intelligence certainly did a thorough job."

They finally arrived at the very front of the ship. "If Starscream put an entrance anywhere, I imagine this would be the place," said Crosshairs.

"I'm with you, Crosshairs," said Sari. "OK, let's start looking for any cracks, any variances in the hull or deck, anything that might suggest a possible entrance."

Lancer and Crosshairs began carefully checking every possible surface. Sari combined her optics with Cyber-Ninja Crystalocution to try to detect any weaknesses or hollow areas in the hull's integrity.

"Sari, come take a look at this," said Lancer.

Sari came over to where Lancer had noticed a spot on the deck, just below the helmsman's console. "Look here," she said, and pointed underneath. "When we walked past this area, the dust moved differently right here." Sure enough, the dust betrayed a slight line on the surface under the console.

"Good catch," said Sari, and used her Crystalocution skills to trace a distinctive outline of a hatch under the console. "Let's let the Captain know what you found."

"Captain Nakadai, it looks like Lancer located a hatch," she said. "I can definitely make out the outline of an opening, just underneath the helmsman's console,"

"Excellent! Proceed with caution – there may be some kind of failsafe device involved."

"Acknowledged," said Sari. "I am able to check for it before we open the hatch."

"Keep this comm open. I want to know everything you are doing down there," said Nakadai.

"How will you be able to check?" asked Crosshairs.

"Like this," she responded, and put a servo on the deck. Her digits opened up and the prods made contact with the surface. Immediately her optics went from blue to all white and she began "seeing" the internal circuitry of any systems that might be integrated with the hatch door.

"There's definitely a Decepticon failsafe device built into this trap door," said Sari. "It was programmed by our friend Starscream. He absolutely did NOT want any unwanted person opening it," she said.

"Why Sari? What are you detecting?" said Nakadai.

"It's connected to multiple Decepticon bombs," said Sari.

"Abort! Abort! Pull back!" Yelled Nakadai.

"Acknowledged," said Sari, and retracted her digits. Her optics changed back from all white to blue. She turned back to her two mighty nervous Autobot companions. "Alright, let's work our way back out." They climbed back up inside the ship and out to the lunar surface. Everyone returned to the shuttle craft.

"OK, please explain to me, Sari, how you were able to determine that there was a booby trap integrated to the hatch, and bombs connected to it," said Nakadai.

"I have a mod that allows me to connect to and 'speak' to any electronic circuitry," she explained. "All I need to do is make physical contact. Once I touched the trap door, I entered the system that was connected to it and could 'see' its systems and operations. I recognized the Decepticon programming, and it told me that it was built by Starscream."

"It told you?"

"Yes. I also saw how Starscream programmed the ignition device, where the bombs where located, how the system was enabled, and how it can be disabled."

"Did you just say you have the ability to disable it?"

"Yes."

"OK, I don't want to proceed any further until I have reported back to my superiors at the Lunar Colony."

"Understood," said Sari. "I will also report back to my partner, Optimus, and we will let Cybertron know our findings."

On the trip back, Adam spoke to Sari and Nakadai. "This is an incredible find, Captain. We should have guards posted around the Nemesis to keep intruders away."

"I agree," said Nakadai. "That will be my recommendation as well."

"The last thing we want is for someone to attempt to open that trap door without first disabling Starscream's failsafe device," said Sari.

"Unfortunately, Sari, you may be the only person besides Slipstream who can turn that thing off," said Nakadai, grimly.

"Lovely," Sari said, "another thing for my resume: Decepticon Explosive Ordnance Disposal Specialist," she sighed.

**So Sari and Captain Nakadai's crew made a great discovery: the distinct possibility that Starscream had a hidden lab underneath Megatron's crashed starship! That was probably where Slipstream was headed. **

**Lancer found the trap door, but Sari's "mojo mod" also determined that opening it would trip a failsafe device – and we know how much Starscream loved bombs!**

**Sari is confident she has the ability to disable the booby trap, but once that's done, is that all there is to Starscream's failsafe system? And what is inside the hidden lab? We shall see! Thanks for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A meeting is held at the Lunar Colony to discuss the findings, and how to proceed.**

Sari, Optimus, and Captain Nakadai go to the Governor's conference room to meet with the Lunar Colony and Farside Beacon One leadership. They give their report on the Nemesis expedition findings.

The Lunar Colony leadership consists of Governor Martin, Autobot Braver and the Lunar Council. Adam is Council Head. Farside Beacon is led by Air Force Captain Brigham and Bumblebee.

The greatest concerns brought up at the meeting were about Starscream's bombs. Might they be powerful enough to endanger the Lunar Colony? What about Farside Beacon One on the other side?

"Is it possible that Starscream designed his failsafe system for total or partial destruction of the moon?" asked Governor Martin. "It's not a trivial question. It was different when Cybertron Intelligence came to strip out The Nemesis," he explained. "Back then, there were no colonies or stations here. Now there are nearly 3,000 Human and Autobot lives at stake."

"Starscream was an evil and cunning Decepticon," said Braver. "He had a callous disregard for life, as was seen in Detroit 22 years ago. He was also a paranoid megalomaniac, and could very likely have planted charges capable of destroying not only the individual trying to enter his underground location, but enough of the lunar surface to leave a permanent sign that he was not to be trifled with."

"We are extremely fortunate that up until now, no one ever discovered that hatch," said Adam.

"There is another thing: We're assuming that Slipstream knows about the fail safe devices, and how to disable them," said Captain Brigham. "What if she doesn't? She could very well have set off the explosions."

"There's no way to know with certainty the extent or the magnitude of the bombs that Starscream planted without a deep analysis of the fail safe system, the kind of analysis that only Sari is capable of doing," said Optimus.

"And what is this 'ability'," asked the Governor, "how can it be done without tripping the fail safe?"

"My mod has the ability to enter any electronic system just by coming in close proximity to it," Sari explained. "I can then 'speak' to the system, and it will communicate and interact with me."

"You 'speak' to the system? Even if it is not sentient?" Asked a Council member.

"Yes, I have entered in and worked with systems developed by Earth, by Cybertron, by Quintesson, as well as others such as systems designed by the Halonians."

"Perhaps a demonstration would be useful," said Optimus. "Would you permit Sari to enter one of the Lunar Colony's systems?"

"Certainly," said the Governor. "Dr. Witwicky, can you select something sufficiently sophisticated on which she can demonstrate her abilities?"

"Excellent idea," said Adam. "Sari, let's go over to the colony's environmental systems – say, the one that Sumdac built for Red Rock Park."

With that, the group left the conference room and went over to the Lunar Colony's computer center. Adam escorted them in to the section containing the Environmental Systems. They went to the control center for Red Rock Park, and Adam gave Sari a seat at the main console. Everyone stood by and watched.

Sari held her servos above the panel. Her digits opened up and the prods penetrated the console keyboard. Immediately her optics went from blue/white to all white as she entered the environmental systems. Once in, she navigated her way over to the internal controls of the Red Rock Park environmental modules and began "seeing" its internal programs.

"I see the climate control system is scheduling a short rainstorm for next Tuesday," she said. "Current temperature in the park is 24 degrees Centigrade, high this afternoon will be 38. Max UV index is 10 – better use sunscreen," she turned her helmet at the group and smiled.

"Tell me what the temperature was when the park was first installed," asked Governor Martin, testing her abilities.

"Let me ask the database," said Sari. "41 high, 26 low," she responded.

Adam checked his records. "That is correct."

"Can you change the temperature?" asked one of the Council members.

"If you wish," she replied.

"Just two degrees, Sari," said Adam. "Cool it down to 22, and we'll watch the thermometer here in the control room."

"Acknowledged." And she made the temperature go down. The group watched as Red Rock Park's temperature started dropping until it registered 22 degrees.

"Now make it go back up one degree," said Adam. And Sari raised it one degree, and the thermometer registered the change.

"Does any other Autobot have this ability?" asked the Governor.

"Only Sari," said Optimus.

"Governor, I've known Sari for almost 25 years," said Bumblebee. I've seen her use this mod countless times. It's a remarkable ability. I would trust her to be able to go into Starscream's system and learn everything there is to know about it without setting it off. And if there is a way to disable the fail safe, she's the one who can do it."

"Thank you, Bumblebee. And thank you, Sari, for the demonstration," said Governor Martin.

"You're welcome, Governor," said Sari, and began the process of exiting the climate system. She returned to the control panel and retracted her prods. Her optics changed back from all white to blue/white, and she sat back in the chair.

"The leadership will make a decision on how we should proceed. But first we want to hear the plans that Sari and Optimus Prime have."

"Sari and I have discussed this," said Optimus. "There is another Cyber-Ninja we would like to ask to join her in The Nemesis. His name is Jazz, and he was her Sensei. Together, we think they would be a good team to perform this deep analysis of Starscream's fail safe systems. With their skills, they should be able to determine the extent of its tripwires and its explosive potential."

"If we receive the leadership's vote to proceed, we will travel to Cybertron to meet with Jazz and the Autobot High Council to discuss everything that the leadership has authorized."

"There is another thing we need to bring up," said the Governor, "and that is the issue of sovereignty. Cybertron claims The Nemesis, but whatever is underneath it is technically part of the moon, which is Earth territory. "Before any claims are made on whatever is found, there will have to be negotiations."

"As Earth/Cybertron Ambassador, I will work to establish an Earth / Cybertron task force to work on these negotiations," said Sari.

"Thank you, Sari," said the Governor. "I have heard about the good work you are accomplishing with the United Interplanetary Charter. I am sure this task force will proceed with equal efficiency."

The group left the computer center and returned to the Governor's conference room. Sari, Optimus, and Captain Nakadai waited outside while the Lunar leadership returned to discuss the proposals.

"We'll see what they agree to," said Nakadai. "If they approve your plan, I'll be glad to escort you and Jazz to The Nemesis, Sari, and wait for you."

"Thanks, Captain," Sari smiled. "You're a brave pilot."

"Hey, if you can't live life dangerously, why live it?" she winked. "Besides, I don't mind being the first human to find out how you did."

The doors to the conference room opened. "That didn't take long," said Sari. They watched as everyone left the conference room. Adam came up to the three waiting. "They approved your plan," he said.

"Excellent," said Optimus. "Tell everyone that Sari and I will take the space bridge immediately." Sari nodded. They started to say goodbye to Nakadai and Adam.

"Oh, Optimus! I can't leave just yet," said Sari.

"What's up?"

"I promised Adam's kids I wouldn't leave without first saying goodbye."

"Hey, Sari, I have an idea," said Adam. "Why don't you and Optimus come to the house? I don't think they've ever met him, and I'm positive they've never seen you in 'bot' mode."

"Is that OK with you, Optimus?" Sari asked her partner.

"Of course! Be glad to meet your family, Adam." So they took their leave of Captain Nakadai and went to the Witwicky residence.

Adam called Mikaela. "We're going to have a visitor. Optimus Prime is stopping by with Sari. She has to head up to Cybertron with him, but didn't want to leave without first saying goodbye to the kids."

"Optimus? No problem. I doubt he'll fit in the living room though," she said.

Adam laughed. "No, we'll go in the back yard, hon. And Sari's in 'bot' mode. The kids never saw her that way; we thought that might be an interesting experience for them."

"Alright, see you all in a few. The kids will be arriving in about 15 minutes," Mikaela replied.

Adam, Sari and Optimus arrived at the Witwicky residence, and went into the back yard. Mikaela came out. "Hi Sari! Hi hon! Hello, Optimus," she greeted him. "Welcome to my home!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Witwicky," said Optimus. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Please, call me Mikaela," she replied. "The kids will be home from school soon. They'll be very excited to meet you. And Sari, I understand you and Optimus have to head up to Cybertron. We'll look forward to seeing you when you return."

Ron and Julie walked in the house. "Mom? Anyone home?"

"We're in the back yard, kids," said Mikaela. They came to the back. "Whoa!" said Ron. "Autobots! Cool!"

"Kids, I'd like you to meet some friends of mine. This is Optimus Prime, and the other Autobot is someone you already know. This is Aunt Sari." Sari Waved a servo. "Hi kids!"

"Aunt Sari? No way!" Ron ran to her. Julie approached cautiously. "Aunt Sari, is that really you?" she said.

"It's me," Sari said. I'm in 'bot' mode, because I have a job to do with my partner Optimus." She noticed that Julie was a little tentative, so she decided to transform her fembot face into 'human' mode. A flash of blue and her Autobot face was replaced by her human face. "Does that look better?"

Julie smiled, and came up to Sari.

"Aw, I liked your Autobot face," said Ron.

"What's the job you have to do?" asked Julie.

"Optimus and I have to take the space bridge up to Cybertron," explained Sari. We're going to go talk with a great teacher of mine named Jazz, and then we're going to meet with the Autobot High Council – they're the leaders of all the Autobots. When we're done, we'll come back here and I have a job to do over at that old shipwreck I was talking about."

"You'll come back here then, right?" asked Ron.

"That's my plan," said Sari.

"OK! We'll be waiting for you!" he said, and gave her a hug.

"I'll see you when you get back, Aunt Sari," said Julie, and hugged her on the other side.

"Bye, kids! Love you!"

"Love you Aunt Sari!" they replied.

"OK kids, Aunt Sari and Optimus need to get going," said Mikaela. "Sari, Optimus, thanks for stopping by. Best wishes on your efforts."

"Thanks, Mikaela," said Sari, and gave her a hug.

"Thank you, Mikaela," said Optimus.

"Alright, I'll see you when you return from Cybertron," said Adam. Good luck."

* * *

"Optimus, Sari! Great to see you!" Jazz greeted the two on Cybertron.

"Hello, Jazz! It's been a while," said Sari. "How have you been?"

"Doing well, my friends. What can I do for you?"

Optimus and Sari explained the situation, and discussed their strategy. "If you and Sari could enter The Nemesis," said Optimus, "both of your Cyber-Ninja skills working together with Sari's mod should be able to penetrate Starscream's systems and uncover the extent of his fail safe devices. Then Sari can work to disable them."

"Excellent plan," said Jazz. "Let's bring your proposal up to the Autobot High Council."

"We agree," said Alpha Trion. "The only way to learn about Starscream's fail safe devices under The Nemesis would be for Sari Sumdac to use her mod, working with Jazz' Cyber-Ninja skills. Together they can explore underneath the ship without physically entering it."

"And once they have learned the full extent of the system, she can safely turn the tripwires off," said Perceptor.

"We also approve of Sari's creation of an Earth/Cybertron task force to explore the sovereignty issues related to any items that would be recovered from underneath the ship," said Alpha Trion.

On their way to the space bridge, Optimus told Sari, "I'm coming to The Nemesis with you two."

"Optimus, no!" said Sari Should something happen, I want one member of our team remaining!"

"No, I belong at the site with my partner," he smiled. "Unfortunately, there's not much I can do inside, so I will stay on the surface with Nakadai."

"We appreciate you coming with us," said Jazz, and put a servo to Optimus' shoulder.

Captain Nakadai was waiting for them at the Lunar Colony space bridge. "Welcome back. Your shuttle craft awaits," she smiled.

**Optimus, Sari, Jazz and Nakadai take off for The Nemesis. Their first task will be to scope out the full extent of the fail safe system/s, try to find all of its tripwires, and then begin the process of shutting them down. Then, Sari and Jazz will need to locate all of Starscream's bombs and one by one, disable and remove them. Only then can a crew safely enter and explore the regions below. Thanks for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

**The four on board the shuttlecraft head towards The Nemesis, to begin the process of disabling Starscream's fail safe devices. Then, they can begin to uncover the mystery of what's underneath.**

Captain Nakadai piloted the shuttlecraft toward The Nemesis. Optimus, Jazz and Sari looked out the window as it loomed ahead.

"You OK, Optimus?" asked Sari. She looked up at his face and could tell he was disturbed at the sight.

"It's been a long time since I first laid optics on that ship," he sighed, "I came so close to losing my crew, looking at it still chills the mech fluid in me." He looked down at his partner and smiled, "of course, that battle did wind up taking us to Earth, where Bumblebee found you."

Sari smiled back, "And here we are, ready to begin yet another chapter in our lives."

"Alright, I'll land in the same spot as before," said Nakadai. "Optimus and I will wait here, while you and Jazz go down and attempt to disarm Starscream's fail safe devices. She radioed Lunar Headquarters. "Lunar Base One, this is Shuttle Craft One. We've arrived at The Nemesis. Begin recording."

"Roger, Shuttle Craft One, recording has begun."

"That way," said Nakadai, "should anything happen to us here, they'll have a copy of our transmissions back at the base. And they're also patching in the transmissions over to Farside Beacon One."

"Acknowledged," said Sari. She and Jazz left the shuttle craft and headed over to Megatron's crashed ship.

They worked their way down into the nose of the ship, until they reached the spot where Lancer had discovered the hatch. Jazz sat in a Lotus position and Sari put a servo over the hatch door. Her digits opened up and the prods made contact with the surface. Immediately her optics went from blue/white to all white and she began "seeing" the fail safe systems.

While Sari was inside the systems, Jazz used Processor-Over-Matter to spread his Spark senses out through the entire length, width and depth of the underground chamber. His Cyber-Ninja "sight" enabled him to find where Starscream had planted the explosive devices.

Both Cyber-Ninjas communicated to each other silently through their Sparks.

"Sari, I've located all of the bombs," said Jazz.

"And I am inside Starscream's detonation systems," she replied. "Each bomb is independently tripped, but if an intruder manages to deactivate the first, the program detects the deactivation and automatically arms the next bomb to go off before they can get to it. Devious."

"What do you recommend?"

"Let me see if it will allow me to deactivate them in reverse order," she responded. "Hopefully Starscream didn't anticipate someone attempting that."

Sari then stepped through the detonation programs one by one, until she reached the last. Examining Starscream's programming confirmed her theory – if she disabled the detonations in reverse order, it will bypass the automatic detonation.

"OK, I can safely disable the detonations going from last to first," Sari told Jazz.

"Once you're done with the detonations, I'll disable the bombs."

"Acknowledged." And one by one, she began turning off the detonations, starting with the last one. There were 32 fail safe locations in all, throughout the underground site. "Whatever he had down there, he certainly didn't want anyone looking around."

"I'm going to do this very slowly," said Sari. "Some of the middle ones branch off, and I need to be careful."

"Acknowledged, Sari," said Jazz. "I'll inform Nakadai."

Optimus and Nakadai were anxiously awaiting word from the Cyber-Ninjas. Since they had begun, their communications to each other had been made silently via Spark. Just then, Jazz broke in to the shuttlecraft communication system. "Sari and I are working on the fail safe systems," he told them. "She is currently inside Starscream's programming, turning off the detonation programming. It is very difficult and slow going, so I have left her alone to concentrate on the task."

"Meanwhile, I have located all of the bombs. There are 32 of them in total. Once she has turned off the detonation systems, I can disable them."

"Acknowledged, Jazz, thank you for the update," said Nakadai.

"I am also able to 'see' what is inside the underground chamber," he continued. "It appears to be a laboratory. I sense that the equipment it contains is not new; it's possible Starscream may have brought it down from The Nemesis."

"Interesting," said Optimus. "There was a lab in The Nemesis, and Starscream was a cloning expert. Might there be additional protoforms down there?"

"It's very possible, Optimus," said Jazz. "We were never able to recover all of the protoforms that Lockdown stole."

* * *

"Jazz," said Sari from her Spark, "I'm done."

"Sari's done," Jazz told the two in the shuttlecraft. "I will begin to disable the bombs."

"Acknowledged, Jazz," said Nakadai.

"Alright, Sari," said Jazz, "is there anything else in the systems you believe needs to be done?"

"Let me look around," she said, and began exiting the detonation system.

"This one is standalone and not connected to any other system," she said. "I guess I'll have to wait until we get down inside the chamber. Hold on," she paused, as she found an old file. "He left something here. Let me open it up and…" She paused for several nanoclicks.

"Sari? What is it?"

"This file makes mention of sparkling protoforms," she said.

"Starscream might have had sparkling protoforms?" said Jazz, dumbfounded. "If that is so, we need to let The Autobot High Council know!"

"It's not just that, Jazz," said Sari. "I was a sparkling protoform when my father found me on Earth!"

"Oh, Jazz, you don't suppose…?"

"We won't know for sure, Sari, until we get down there. Are there any other systems inside the detonation program that you need to examine?"

"Let me go through it one more time," she said. And she carefully stepped through Starscream's programming again, looking at each circuit, in particular trying to see if there might be any other hidden file that might have another clue leading towards the mystery of whether he had anything to do with sparkling protoforms. She came up empty. "No, there's nothing else. This is a closed system."

"Alright then. Safe for us to begin disabling the bombs?"

"Yes. Let us begin." And as Sari exited out of the detonation system, retracting the prods on her digits, turning her optics back to blue/white, Jazz started disabling the series of bombs. As Sari had predicted, they turned off without setting the next ones off. "Well, that's a relief," he said smiling. "Good job, my friend."

"My pleasure," she smiled back. "I'll let the crew upstairs know."

"Sari here," came her voice on the shuttlecraft's communication system. "The detonation system has been turned off, and Jazz is now disabling the bombs."

"Good job, Sari!" said Optimus.

"There's something else," she said. I found an old file in the detonation system. It's possible that Starscream may have had, or experimented with, sparkling protoforms."

"What?" exclaimed Optimus. There's no telling what kind of army he could have built if he had succeeded! That may have been what Slipstream was after!"

"That's not the only thing that I find incredible, Optimus," said Sari. "As you know, I was a sparkling protoform when my father found me in his lab."

"Sari, I understand," he replied. Optimus knew Sari's burning desire to find her origins. "Great Cybertron," he thought, "could Sari, with all of her powers, have originally been designed to be a Decepticon soldier?" He grimaced at the thought. "Let us know when you're ready to open the hatch," he replied.

"Acknowledged," said Sari.

Ending the transmission, Sari helped Jazz disable Starscream's remaining bombs. When they were done, Jazz suggested they both "look" through the underground chambers, to make sure there aren't any other "surprises." "You never know what other things he might have thought of – EMPs, spears, or other crude devices," said Jazz. They sat in Lotus position and spread their Spark into every corner, beginning with the hatch. Sure enough, they found some, and made sure they were all inoperable.

Sari began to feel an odd sensation about the place. She couldn't put a digit on it, but it was almost as if in some places, she had been there before. "Jazz, I know this lab," she finally told him. "I feel it. At the same time, it's foreign."

"The things here came from another location," he said. "They were not built here."

"Some from out of The Nemesis," she said.

"Yes," said Jazz, "but most from elsewhere. I can't tell where, though."

Then they both stopped abruptly and looked at each other. "There are protoforms down there! And sparkling protoforms!"

"Optimus! Nakadai! Come down immediately!" said Sari.

"Wait, Sari," said Nakadai, "I want to first get permission from my superiors."

"Understood," she said, "but this is very important. We've detected protoforms and sparkling protoforms down here."

"Great Cybertron!" said Optimus.

Governor Martin and Captain Brigham broke in. "Captain Nakadai, permission granted. Please proceed."

Nakadai donned a space suit and she and Optimus entered The Nemesis. They descended down into the nose, where Sari and Jazz had opened the hatch.

"Sari, lead the way," said Optimus. She went down, followed by Optimus, Jazz and Nakadai. The staircase went down 10 meters, until it came to its first set of doors. "This is the second fail safe," said Sari. Opening the door, she pointed above the entrance, where there was a set of sharp rods set to descend. "Don't worry, they're frozen," she said, stepping through. "If that wasn't enough, he had a bomb at each corner."

"This guy was nuts," said Nakadai.

Thus they continued through four more doorways, each with its own set of "surprises," for the unwary individual entering Starscream's private sanctuary. All had been deactivated by the Cyber-Ninjas. They finally arrived at the entrance door to the lab. This one was heavy like a bank vault, with a lock. Sari used P-O-M to open it.

"Sari, are you alright?" asked Jazz. He could sense the unease in her Spark the closer she got to the inside of the chamber.

"Many conflicting feelings hitting me at the same time," she said. "I'll be OK."

Sari put her servo on the chamber wall. "There is still power down here," she said. "I can turn it on." With that, the lights started glowing, slowly at first, until the entire underground chamber was lit.

"Now, this is impressive," said Nakadai, looking at all the equipment. Starscream's laboratory was equipped with hundreds of devices, scoping machines, and examination tables. Various bot parts were sorted and arranged along the walls in assembly formation.

"He was building an army," said Optimus.

"For Megatron, or for himself?" asked Jazz.

"For himself, I'd bet," said Optimus.

Down at the far end of the laboratory was another door. Sari put her servo on it. "The protoforms are here," she said, "and the sparkling protoforms as well."

They opened the door into an enormous vault, which took up the volume of the rest of the underground chamber. Sari entered in first.

"Oh my!" She said, and stepped back in shock. There, on a long lab counter, were 5 statis pods, of the exact same size and design as the one that Sari was in when she appeared in her father's lab. These were apparently the sparkling protoforms that Sari and Jazz had detected!

Sari jumped on the counter and put her servo on one of the pods. She entered the pod, but instead of going into its system, her Spark "melded" with the Spark in the protoform. She "knew" that she and the sparkling protoform were somehow "related". Vague impressions then began to flood her processor. She "saw" as if in a dream, images of Megatron, of Scalpel, of Lockdown. Decepticon words such as "army" "war" "ultimate mods" and "final" came and went. Then, Sari experienced an explosion. The explosion was in her processor.

She screamed, and fell to the floor of Starscream's lab, but while falling, a final dreamy image came to her, that of a bright flash of white, and a black glove touching her.

Then, she left her processor.

* * *

"Doc! She's coming to!" a voice said.

"Sari? Sari?" said Firestar. "Can you hear me?"

"Where am I?" she asked.

"You're in my sick bay, in Farside Beacon One," said Firestar. "You gave us quite a scare. I was about ready to have my crew send you off to Cybertron."

"What..? How…?"

"Just relax. We'll talk about things after you've gained some strength. Right now, I want you to rest."

**What happened to Sari? She and the crew found protoforms and sparkling protoforms in Starscream's lab, but more importantly, they found statis pods, just like the one she came in on. And instead of entering the pod with her "mojo" mod, she "melded" with the Spark in the protoform. Apparently that entire experience overloaded her processor. She'll be able to sort it all out with her companions and the medical staff, I'm sure. Thanks for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sari is recuperating in Farside Beacon One's sick bay, after her processor overload.**

"Try to relax, Sari," said Firestar. "Your processor was overloading when they brought you here. You were quite uncooperative. In fact, I had to enlist the aid of a friend; he came up and used his EMP skills to help calm you down." Firestar stepped aside and a familiar face came into view. "Hey kiddo," said Ratchet, "how you doin'?"

"Ratchet? Oh, hey there," said Sari weakly. "Nice to see you; sorry you had to come knock me out," she smiled. "How long have I been under?"

"Oh, about 2 solar cycles," he replied. "When I knock you out, I KNOCK you out good," he smiled. "Anyway, as busy as you are, you needed the rest."

"Wow," she said. "That long? I had no idea."

"When you came in here, you were rambling," said Firestar. "We tried talking to you, but you weren't responding to us."

"Mind if I come in?" said another voice. It was Optimus.

"Hey, there, partner," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Weak, but otherwise OK, I think," Sari responded. "What happened?"

"Well, once we discovered the stasis pods, you jumped up and put your servo on one of them. Your optics turned white as usual, but then you became very agitated. Finally, you screamed, fell backwards, and began babbling about Megatron, Scalpel, armies, and seeing a black glove. We tried talking to you, but you weren't responding. We got you up top, and Nakadai rushed you to Farside Beacon One. I didn't think her shuttle could go that fast," he smiled.

"We radioed sick bay en route; you were very aggressive! Jazz and I tried calming you down in the shuttle; you kept pacing back and forth, talking about Megatron and Scalpel building an army and having to be prepared. You were scaring all of us!"

"By the time we got to sick bay, we tried getting you into a bed. It took me, Jazz, Firestar, and Sandstorm to hold you down! One of Firestar's assistants finally contacted Ratchet, who jumped on the space bridge and he was able to use his EMP on you."

"Wow! I don't remember any of that. Sorry for all of it," she replied meekly. "Where's Jazz and Nakadai? I owe them an apology as well!"

"They'll be by to check on you later," said Optimus. "They know you were not yourself. Nakadai left a message: 'Hey Sari, all is forgiven, just don't do it again, OK?'" he smiled. Sari laughed. "Tell her 'no prob'".

"Do any of those things you were saying make sense to you now?" asked Firestar.

"A little," said Sari. "When I touched the statis pod, I thought I could go into the pod's system like I do with any other. However, instead, I somehow 'melded' with the Spark of the sparkling protoform."

"'Melded'?" Firestar asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"That's the only word I can come up with," said Sari. It was as if our Sparks became as one. We shared things. I 'saw' images in my processor."

"You kept talking about Megatron, Scalpel, and Lockdown building an army with ultimate mods," said Optimus. "We tried asking you questions, but it was as if you were speaking from somewhere else."

"When I melded with the other Spark, I got the sense that we were related somehow," Sari replied. "I don't know any other way to describe it. It was as if we came from the same laboratory."

She looked off into the distance, trying to find words to describe what happened. "Then, I think we started to share a common beginning, something that had been long repressed in my processor – yes! I understand now. It was proto-memories, proto-memories that the sparkling protoform's processor had, and I had, but could not coherently express, because neither of us had sufficient development when they had occurred."

Sari continued. "I had long forgotten these proto-memories. The Spark in the sparkling protoform 'borrowed' my processor's abilities and developed memories to piece them together; that's how together, 'we' assembled tags for proto-memories of things like 'Megatron' and 'Scalpel' and 'Lockdown'."

Sari suddenly had an epiphany, and sat up. "Optimus! I was, that is, 'we', were engineered to be the beginnings of a Decepticon army! I think we were created by Scalpel with all these mods."

Sari put a servo to her helmet and racked her processor. She looked at her partner. "But I still can't understand how I wound up in my father's lab, or how these five sparkling protoforms wound up in Starscream's underground lair."

"And then, after we shared these proto-memories, something else happened," she said. "I felt an explosion in my processor. It was as if something extraordinarily powerful suddenly entered my Spark, and then exited. The last thing I remember was screaming, falling back, and the most amazing image came to my processor: the image of a white flash, and of a black glove touching me. Could that have been the memory of my father's first touch, when I absorbed his DNA?"

Optimus, Ratchet, and Firestar all turned and looked at each other.

"What did I just say? Why are you all looking at each other that way?" Sari asked.

"Sari, there's something we need to tell you about the sparkling protoform you touched," said Optimus. "We think it replicated what your father did when he touched you in your statis pod."

"What? What do you mean? What are you saying?" she said.

Firestar spoke up. "Sari, when you were brought here to Farside Beacon One, they also brought the stasis pod you had touched. It was still closed when it arrived. When we opened it, there was a technorganic baby inside."

"There was what?" Stunned, Sari's optics opened wide.

Firestar motioned to an assistant, and he came inside the sick bay room carrying a red-haired, brown-skinned baby girl, wrapped in a blanket. "Sari, she happens to be a near perfect clone of you, although for all practical purposes, I think we could call this your daughter," said Firestar. "Would you like to hold her?"

"My clone? My daughter?" Sari was overwhelmed. She switched to "human" mode. "Let me hold her!"

The assistant gave the baby to Sari and she held the "newborn" in her arms. She looked at her red hair, held her little hand, and gazed into her beautiful brown eyes. Tears welled up in her own. She looked up at her Autobot friends. "She's perfect!"

"Sari, I will make sure The Autobot High Council understands the circumstances of this sparkling protoform," said Optimus.

Sari knew what he meant by that. Cybertron will lay claim to all the protoforms, and sparkling protoforms that were found. Optimus will make sure they let Sari claim this one as her own.

"Alright, let's give Sari some private time, shall we?" said Firestar. Ratchet and Optimus left. "Sari, what will you name her?"

Sari looked at her baby. "I will name her 'Chandra', after the Hindu god of the moon," she smiled back.

Chandra started crying. "I think she's hungry," said Sari.

"I'll go get some formula," said Firestar. "We've been feeding her for you since you two arrived," she smiled. "You'll also need some diapers."

Firestar gave Sari a bottle, and left her and Chandra alone to bond. As she left the room and closed the door, she heard Sari singing a Hindu lullaby.

**So a new chapter certainly opens for Sari. She's become a mother – that is, as technorganics go. We will have to see where this leads! Thanks for reading.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sari and Chandra spend their first night together, in Farside Beacon One's sick bay. Many things lie ahead for both.**

"Good morning, Sari!" said Firestar, coming in to her room at Farside Beacon One's sick bay. "How did you two sleep?"

"Oh, just great!" she responded. She looked down at the little technorganic cradled in her arm. Chandra was still asleep. "She was up a few times to be fed, as expected," she smiled. "Chandra? You awake, sleepyhead?" Chandra yawned.

"It's time for her first Autobot check up," said Firestar. "Let's get her ready."

Sari took her to the table and got her changed and dressed. "Ratchet would like to join us, if that's OK," said Firestar.

"Oh, of course! He's been my bot medic all these years – wouldn't want him to miss out!" And they headed over to the examination room.

"Good morning, Sari! And good morning, little Chandra!" said Ratchet. "Mind if I watch?"

"You mind if Ratchet watches, Chandra?" Sari asked her daughter. "No?" Sari looked back at Ratchet. "She says 'no prob, Doc!" and laid the baby on the examination table. Firestar smiled, Ratchet raised an optic at this unfamiliar - to him - mother/baby dialog.

"Better take her onesie off," said Firestar, and Sari undressed Chandra for the exam. She then laid her back on the table.

Unfortunately, Chandra did NOT like the cold room, cold table and bright lights! As soon as Sari put her down, she began to fuss and cry.

Firestar began the examination, undisturbed by the baby's crying. "Oh, poor baby!" She cooed. Sari held Chandra's hand, talking to her throughout the exam. "It's OK, sweetie, it's OK."

Ratchet cut in. "Geez! How do you two put up with all that racket?" he complained.

The two ladies turned and gave him a withering glance. "She's just a baby!" They said in unison. Firestar and Sari then gave each other a knowing look, tut tutting. "Mechs" they said to each other.

"OK, let's have a look at her Spark chamber," said Firestar, and put a sensor over her chest. A crisp real-time image of Chandra's Spark came up on the overhead display. "Oh!" Said Sari, putting her hand over her mouth, seeing the image of her daughter's tiny little pulsing, shimmering Spark for the first time.

Firestar turned away from the monitor and looked at Sari to see her tearing up. "You OK, Sari?" she asked.

"I'm alright," she said, wiping her eyes. "It's a human thing. Looking at that little Spark pulsing inside her, it's an awe inspiring sight. An old bot friend of mine said humans possess a 'wonder' mod."

"Jazz?" asked Ratchet, putting a servo on her shoulder.

"Jazz," replied Sari, nodding.

"Well, everything looks good - clean bill of Autobot health!" Said Firestar. Ratchet smiled and patted Sari on the back, "Congratulations, Mommy!" Sari smiled back at her two Autobot friends, "Thanks, guys!" She picked Chandra up and put her back into her onesie, and waved goodbye to Ratchet and Firestar.

"OK, Chandra, let's go visit some friends," said Sari, and headed off to the Farside Beacon One's control area.

"Hey, Bee, thought we'd stop by," said Sari.

"Sar!" said Bumblebee, walking over. "And is this the little one?" Everyone got up from their chairs to have a look at the baby. "Oh, how cute!" they said.

"Yep! This is Chandra. Chandra? This is Bumblebee and his friends."

"Can I hold her?" he asked. And Sari gave her to Bee to hold. He picked Chandra up gently, and looked into her little face. "She's so beautiful, Sari! So, THIS is what you looked like, eh?" he winked. "No wonder your Dad fell in love with you!" Sari blushed.

Bumblebee started making silly faces. "Chandra? Chan-dra? Goo goo goo!" Chandra looked up at Bee and smiled. "Hey! Sari! She smiled at me!"

"Well, she's still a little too young to smile at faces," said Sari. "That was probably gas," everyone laughed.

"Well, Sari! Good to see you up and about!" She turned around to see Jazz entering the room. "Jazz! I'm so glad to see you!" she said.

"And I'm so very glad to see you!" he said.

"I'm sorry about my behavior on the trip here," Sari apologized.

"No worries, my friend," he smiled. "I'm just happy for you and Chandra. I was very concerned after you screamed and fell. On the ride here, I kept trying to reach you with P-O-M, even up to the point when Ratchet arrived with his EMP, but you kept pushing me out. You are indeed a very powerful Cyber-Ninja."

"Optimus headed back to the Lunar Colony," he explained. "He'll meet you there after you and Chandra arrive and have a chance to get settled. Mrs. Witwicky says she can't wait to see you and the little one, and she told me to tell you that everything is arranged for you two to stay there."

Jazz smiled and stroked Chandra's cheek with his digit. "A beautiful child."

"Hey, is this where the party is?" Captain Nakadai walked in.

"Hey there!" said Sari. "Come on in!" Nakadai walked over to Mom and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sari, I'm glad you're better!"

"Oh, yeah, about that," she said meekly. Sorry about my little breakdown."

"Eh, I was a cop on Earth, I've seen worse." Nakadai shrugged. "No worries. Let me see the baby!" Sari gave Chandra to her.

"Aw, she's beautiful, Sari! What's her name?"

"Chandra."

"Hey there, Chandra!" Nakadai held her little hand. "So, she's a clone of you?"

"Yep."

"Well, let me tell ya, you were one cute kid!" Nakadai looked down at Chandra's face and smiled. "You're a cutie pie, aren't ya?"

"So anyway, Sari, I brought a special baby carrier with me from the Lunar Colony. That way we can safely transport Chandra from here to my shuttle, and from the shuttle into the colony entrance."

"Oh, thanks, Captain!" said Sari.

"Hey, we're friends now, right?" she said. "Call me Miko."

"So whenever you two are ready, we can secure her in the carrier and be on our way." So Sari bid farewell to her friends in Farside Beacon One and left with Miko. They put Chandra into the carrier and once it was secured, she carried it to the shuttle.

The trip around to the other side of the moon - at a leisurely pace this time - took about 2 hours. The cabin was pressurized, so Sari was able to feed Chandra on the way and change her. "By the way, I hear Dr. Witwicky has something for you," Miko told her.

They arrived at the Lunar Colony, and Adam, Mikaela, Julie and Ron were waiting for them at the bottom of the elevator. "Sari! Welcome back!" said Adam. "And welcome, little Chandra!"

It was a glorious welcome! Mikaela had brought a newborn baby stroller for Chandra, with nice, cozy blankets. "I've saved all of Julie's baby clothes; we'll go through them when we get home," she told Sari. Julie was ecstatic. "I want to babysit!" she said. "She's really cute, Aunt Sari," said Ron. But Adam saved the best for last. "Sari, I wanted to give this to you," he said, and presented her with an official Birth Certificate, with the Lunar Colony seal on it, made out to "Chandra Sumdac."

Sari held the certificate in her hands. "Oh, Adam," she said. "I can't tell you what this means to the both of us!"

"As you know, I appeared as a technorganic in my father's lab, and grew up in Sumdac Tower. I always thought I was a normal human girl and that I'd been born. But one horrible day, I learned the truth that I was not fully human, that I had no birth certificate, nothing to show that I even existed!"

"It wasn't until much later, when I was granted Cybertronian citizenship that I could lay claim to a place to truly call home – and now, Chandra has one from birth. Thank you! Thank you so much!" She reached over, and with tears in her eyes, hugged Adam. Everyone cheered!

"Hey, Sari, I've got to head back to the surface. I'll see you and Optimus tomorrow."

"OK Miko, thanks for everything," and Sari gave her a hug.

"See you all!" And she took the elevator back up top.

With Chandra snug in her stroller, the group headed over to the Witwicky residence. There, Mikaela had prepared a "Happy Birthday, Chandra" party / shower for baby & mom, and invited the neighbors. Everyone had a great time!

After the party, Sari and Mikaela were sorting through Julie's baby things. "I think," said Sari, "I want to relocate here to the Lunar Colony."

"Really? That would be wonderful, Sari! It's a terrific environment for kids."

"And it would be so good for Chandra to grow up near you, Adam, Julie and Ron," Sari responded. "That's the most important thing to me."

"Well, listen, I can help you. Let me make some calls. My friend is a real estate agent; she'll find you a place nearby, and I know a terrific nanny! Oh, this is great, Sari! Julie will be ecstatic!" So the two spent the rest of the day making plans.

The following day, with Julie babysitting, Sari, Optimus, Jazz and Miko met with the Lunar Colony and Farside Beacon One leadership to brief them on their findings. After they had dropped Sari off at Farside Beacon One's sick bay, the remaining three had returned to Starscream's lab to complete the exploration. They found 32 protoforms and the 4 remaining sparkling protoforms, as well as various bot parts. These were all cataloged and the list was presented to the group.

"I think, in light of what was discovered, that we should deem ownership of all items to the Autobots," said Governor Martin. Captain Brigham agreed, as did the Lunar Council. Braver and Bumblebee were tasked with making the arrangements for Cybertron Intelligence to come and retrieve the contents of the lab.

"What about the technorganic that was brought to Farside Beacon One with Sari?" asked Captain Brigham.

"I have spoken with The Autobot High Council," said Optimus. "They have granted initial custody to Sari, pending a Council appearance and final determination."

After the meeting, Optimus and Sari got together in a separate conference room. "I'm very confident that the appearance at the High Council will be just a formality, Sari."

"I hope you are right," she said. "I've really bonded with her."

"So I understand," said Optimus. "What's going on?"

"Do you remember when I was about 16? I went for my very first human physical. My father recommended his physician, Dr. Atwood. I learned that my human half was capable of conceiving and bearing children."

"Then, a little while later, I had that incident with Adam and Mikaela, and I realized that, as a technorganic, I should never, never think about trying to have something resembling a completely human life, with a husband and a family. I've accepted that, but at the same time, I've always had the wish that, someday, somehow, I could have a life that was close to it. When, all of a sudden, this incident with the stasis pod happened and Chandra came into my life, all those past feelings suddenly burst back into my Spark."

"Maybe bonding with her was a mistake, but it all happened so fast. Oh, Optimus, if The Autobot High Council doesn't grant me custody of her, I don't know what I will do!"

"Well, as I said, I believe it will be a formality," he said. "In the meantime, let us prepare to go to Cybertron. I have asked Ratchet and Arcee to accompany us. They have had enough experiences with technorganics to help with any questions."

Shortly afterwards, Sari, Chandra, Optimus, Jazz, Ratchet and Arcee headed to the space bridge. Sari switched to "bot" mode, and held Chandra in her space carrier.

At a conference room in the Metroplex, everyone met with Alpha Trion, Cliffjumper, and Perceptor. As senior partner, Optimus presented their findings.

"Sari, when you decided to use your mod to enter the statis pod, your experience was completely different from other times," said Perceptor. "You say that instead of entering the pod circuitry, you made contact with the sparkling protoform."

"Yes, Perceptor, that is correct. I was completely unprepared for that. It was as if the sparkling protoform pulled me in and melded with me. We then began sharing common proto-memories. I have since come to believe that I was once one of those sparking protoforms, and that we were engineered by Scalpel to be part of some Decepticon army."

"And yet, your statis pod arrived on Earth, in the human Isaac Sumdac's laboratory," said Alpha Trion. "How is that?"

"I don't know," said Sari. "That is still a mystery."

"In addition, the sparkling protocol in the stasis pod did something else," Sari continued. "It entered my Spark chamber, and took a copy of my human DNA – the very same human DNA that I had copied from Isaac Sumdac – my 'Earth father'. The result of this was the sparkling protoform turning into a clone of me."

"I see that Optimus has submitted a request on your behalf Sari," said Cliffjumper. "You wish custody of this new technorganic?"

"Yes, Cliffjumper," said Sari. "I believe that I am uniquely qualified to raise this technorganic, and when the time comes, help her learn to properly use her mods."

"I am inclined to agree with Sari," said Alpha Trion. "Ratchet and Arcee, you have joined us at this meeting because you both have significant experience working with Sari. What are your opinions on this matter?"

Ratchet spoke first. "I have known Sari since first meeting her when we met the Earth humans 25 stellar cycles ago. I watched her advance from a young human girl to the mature technorganic Cyber-Ninja she is today. I also believe from the bottom of my Spark that she would make an excellent mentor for this new being."

"I have known Sari for fewer stellar cycles than Ratchet," said Arcee. "However, I had the privilege of being able to use my teacher bot skills to mentor her when she was a young technorganic, shortly after the defeat of Megatron. I can attest to her deep Cybertronian loyalties, as well as her strong human capacity for love and caring of this new life form."

"Very well," said Alpha Trion. "Thank you both for your testimonies. "The Autobot High Council will take these into careful consideration and we will announce our decision in one megacycle."

Arcee held Chandra in her carrier, while Sari paced back and forth in the waiting room as the High Council debated. "Sari, try to calm down," said Optimus. "Let her pace," said Arcee. "It's a very crucial decision for her."

The signal came in before the megacycle was over. "That was sooner than I'd expected," said Ratchet. "Good news, perhaps?" Everyone entered the council chamber.

"Sari Sumdac, the High Council has considered the request, and we have unanimously decided to grant you official custody of the technorganic," said Alpha Trion.

"Thank you, Alpha Trion!" said Sari. "Thank you, members of the High Council. I will do my very best to raise her in the ways of Cybertron." Everyone in the chamber cheered!

"When you leave the Metroplex, please bring her to Dataminer for an examination," said Perceptor. "We would like him to regularly examine her as she grows, and maintain a record of her technorganic capabilities. If as you say, the sparkling protoforms were engineered to be a powerful Decepticon army, I suspect her mods may be different than yours."

After the meeting, Ratchet, Arcee, Sari and Chandra went to Dataminer's office. "Still looks the same after all these stellar cycles," said Ratchet, as they walked in. "Hello?" came a voice from the inner room. Dataminer walked out. "May I help you? Oh, hello there! What a nice surprise! Sari, Ratchet, Arcee, so good to see you all; what can I do for you today – and what is this you are carrying?"

"Dataminer, I'd like you to meet Chandra," said Sari, and unwrapped her blanket. "She's a clone of me.

"A clone! Oh my! Well, let us go into my office, everyone! You must tell me all about her!" And they sat down in Dataminer's office, where Sari explained the whole story. Dataminer took it all in with great enthusiasm. "Sari, this is indeed remarkable. You say there are four other sparkling protoforms?"

"Yes. Cybertron Intelligence will be collecting them, along with the 32 protoforms, and bringing them back."

"Amazing, truly amazing. The Ministry of Science will be busy, that's for sure! And I am so happy for you, Sari. You are the perfect mentor for this little one, that is, if this old bot's opinion still has any merit," he chuckled.

"Thank you, Dataminer," Sari said. "And Perceptor recommended that you examine her. He suspects that her mods are different than my own."

"Just so, just so," he stroked his chin. "That would make sense, if Scalpel was intending to engineer the beginnings of an army. He'd probably start out with some prototypes. My goodness, Sari, however it happened, thank the Allspark you wound up in your father's lab and not in some Decepticon workshop."

"At any rate, let's have a look at this little one, shall we?" And Dataminer gently picked up Chandra. He looked into her eyes. "A beautiful human baby," he said, laying her on his table.

"She doesn't like the cold table," Ratchet started to intervene, but Arcee reached out and gently put a servo to his shoulder. "Let Sari handle it," she said smiling.

Sari held Chandra's little hand while Dataminer ran his tests. Several three-dimensional models of various parts of Chandra's body appeared on large monitors, and a great deal of data began scrolling down others. Dataminer studied all of this with great interest. "Sari, a lot of this looks familiar; I've seen much of it before – can you guess where?" he winked. Sari smiled.

The examination ended, Dataminer shut down his equipment, and Sari picked the baby up. "Let us go back into my office," he said.

"Well, first of all, the basic Autobot anatomy and underlying structures are a 100% duplication of Sari's," he began. Presumably, the human side as well. In that regard, she is a clone. When she's full grown, it looks like we won't be able to tell you two apart," he chuckled. "However, Perceptor was correct; the list of mods is distinctly different. It's difficult to determine at this stage what they are capable of doing because she is so young, but I can tell you this: her growth will parallel yours, Sari. Chandra will begin getting some of her basic mods at around the time she is eight, just like you did when you first fired those orbs out of your hands. What those mods will be, we won't know until she gets close to that age."

"Then, she won't begin getting her full set until she turns sixteen, and after that, they will come on slowly as yours did, until finally, Chandra reaches human adulthood."

"So, same timeline as me," Sari said.

"Yes, precisely. However, there's something you will want to keep in mind," Dataminer continued. "Unlike you, Chandra will from a young age be growing up among Autobots. She will also be watching you transform back and forth from 'human' to 'bot' mode, and as a result, will start becoming aware of her own technorganic nature."

"Now, what does that mean? Well, consider this, Sari: you may have to prepare yourself for the day when suddenly you'll look to see a little 3-year old Autobot running around your home."

"Oh – my!" Said Sari.

Ratchet couldn't help himself, and laughed, "Now, THAT will be a sight to behold!" Arcee kicked him.

**So Sari will have a new job as mother/mentor to little Chandra, but as she shared with Optimus, this is a vocation she's felt called to for a long time. She'll relocate to the Lunar Colony, and have a support network with the Witwicky family. I suspect Chandra's nanny may have unique challenges, though! Thanks for reading.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sari and Optimus are having their meeting at the Mars base's Autobot Headquarters. It had been three months since the Cybertron trip with Chandra, and this was their first meeting since their return. Sari had been busy getting herself and Chandra moved into the Lunar Colony, and Optimus had been working on the security beacons.**

**Work with Nathan in New York City, commuting back and forth from the Lunar Colony had been a smooth transition.**

"So, Sari! How did your relocation go?" asked Optimus.

"Everything went great, thanks! I've got a place just down the street from Adam and Mikaela, which is terrific – Julie's a wonderful babysitter in a pinch, and Angie's the best nanny!"

"Does Angie understand that Chandra's not your normal everyday baby? Especially after your visit with Dataminer."

"Oh, yes. She's been around Autobots since she was a girl. When I told her Chandra and I were technorganics, she knew exactly what that meant, and before I could say more, she wondered when Chandra would first try to transform!"

"Sari, that's wonderful! How about your ambassador duties?"

"Nathan's been very supportive. He's been up to the Lunar Colony to help me move in and get us settled. So far, so good," she smiled. "And you've been very busy with the security beacons. How has that been going?"

"Testing's all done on the first third, and work on the next section is about to begin," Optimus said. "As you know, it'll be a 33 stellar cycle project. We're changing out our team, and a new Prime is coming to help lead the crew."

"Anyone I know?"

"Quite possibly," Optimus tried hiding a wry smile.

"What's up with that grin?" she asked. "Who is it?"

"Well, let's just say that at our video conference she jokingly asked me how 'Micro' was doing."

Sari slapped her servos on the conference room table. "No…way!" She hadn't heard THAT name for herself since Autobot Boot Camp. After graduation, she decided to stay as "Sari Sumdac" and leave the name "Micro" behind – she never liked it anyway. There was only one other fembot in her platoon, so…

"Mirage?"

"Mirage Prime! She'll be leading a crew of five Autobots building the next set of beacons."

"Well! I've got to stop by! When are the new bots scheduled to arrive?"

"They'll be coming in on an Autobot starship in two deca-cycles. I'll be receiving them at the Martian entrepôt station, then after a two orbital cycle orientation, we'll board the beacon shuttle to the construction site."

"Mind if I tag along?"

"I think Mirage would be disappointed if you didn't," Optimus smiled.

* * *

Two weeks later, Sari arrived home after a long conference with the Cybertron/Earth task force. "Oh, it's so nice to be home and relax!" she said as she came through the door. Angie greeted her, "Welcome home, Miss Sumdac!"

"Thanks, Angie; it's good to be back! How's Chandra?"

"Oh, beautiful and precious as always," she said. "And so smart! It's hard to believe she's only three months old! When I talk with her, she looks at me like she understands what I'm saying! Just now, when I went to the crib and said 'Mommy's coming home' she turned, looked up at me and smiled!"

They went into the nursery, and Sari picked her up. Chandra's eyes met hers, smiled, and said "Ma ma!"

Angie's mouth dropped. "Did she just say 'Ma ma?' At three months?"

Sari was also surprised! "I heard it too!" she said. Turning back to Chandra, Sari said, "Hey, cutie! Did you say 'Ma ma'?"

"Ma ma!" Chandra repeated, and reaching out, grabbed Sari's finger.

"Wow! I've never heard a three month old say that!" said Angie. "We've got a prodigy on our hands, Miss Sumdac."

"You're my little prodigy, yes you are, aren't you!" said Sari, kissing her. Chandra giggled.

* * *

Sari and Optimus stood outside the Martian station by the landing site, waiting for the Autobot starship's arrival. She was talking with him about Chandra's rapid development. "Did you ever talk with your father about your development?" he asked.

"Not much, certainly not about the days when I was that little. But now that you mention it, I do remember talking with my dādī – after I got my language mod – and she told me she had never seen a baby develop as fast as me."

"Well then, it's the Cybertronian processor. Perhaps Angie should accompany you on your visits to Firestar for Chandra's regular technorganic checkups. She needs to be kept informed about her Cybertronian growth stages so she'll know what to expect."

"Good idea. I'll bring her with me at Chandra's next visit." They gazed up at the red Martian sky. Soon their optics detected the approach of a spacecraft. "Here comes the ship," said Sari. Its communications with the control tower came through on their helmets.

"Mars Entrepôt, this is starship Flash Frenzy, requesting landing privileges," said the ship's captain.

"Roger Flash Frenzy, proceed to landing site Delta Five," responded the control tower.

The starship approached, lowered its landing gear, and kicking up the Martian dust, began its descent to the site where Optimus and Sari were standing. Once it landed, the station operators came out and secured the ship, while technicians hooked up cables and hoses.

The bay door opened and the runway slid slowly out and down to the Martian surface. Optimus and Sari walked over and stood at the bottom to greet their Autobot guests. The first to come out was Mirage.

"Welcome to Mars," said Optimus. "I am Optimus Prime, and I think you know my partner."

"Thank you, Optimus!" She then turned to her old friend. "Hey there, Micro! Long time, no see!" Mirage said with a smile. "Just joking, I know you ditched that name after we graduated from boot camp. Good to see you, Sari! How've you been?"

"Doing great, Mirage, thanks! Optimus and I are keeping busy here. Last I heard, you were working over in the Salvvatan System."

"Oh, now THAT was an interesting assignment! I'll have to tell you and Optimus all about it later! Let me and my bots get our gear squared away and you and I can have a good reunion!"

"We've got quarters for you all here at the entrepôt station," said Optimus. "Let me show you around, and give you a chance to get settled."

"Sounds good, Optimus," said Mirage. And she and her bots grabbed their gear and followed Optimus and Sari into the station. The friends chatted on the way.

"So tell me, Sari, I hear you adopted a technorganic baby? What's her name?"

"Chandra. You heard about the adoption all the way out in the Salvvatan System?"

"Oh yeah! You are big news, Sari Sumdac! Bots find a stash of protoforms that have been hidden for stellar cycles under a crashed Decepticon starship? You know that's going to go all over the Autobot Commonwealth! And when I heard that you were involved, I had to learn all the details!"

"So, when I get some free time, can I give you a call? I'd love to come visit you and Chandra!"

"Oh, that'd be wonderful!" Sari replied. "We've got a place on the Lunar Colony. Come on by, and I can show you around."

"Sounds like a plan!"

They entered the station's residential area. "The conference room is down the hall. We'll meet there in one megacycle," said Optimus.

"Thanks, Optimus!" And Mirage Prime took her team to the residential area.

"So good to see Mirage again," said Sari.

"She and her crew did some invaluable work on Salvvatan VIII," said Optimus. "That planet is full of energon, and they were responsible for scouting out all of the richest deposits."

At the meeting, Mirage introduced her crew. "Optimus, Sari, I'd like you to meet Bumper, Clipper, Excellion, Hubcap, and Lightspeed."

* * *

**Bumper**

Bumper might look pretty unassuming, but he is a fiercely loyal and determined bot. He has suffered a lot in his life, but has borne it all to protect friends and allies.

Bumper was part of a science expedition that strayed too far outside the boundaries of the Autobot Commonwealth, and was shot down over the planet Bhul by native "freedom fighters". After hiding the survivors, Bumper returned to their ship's wreckage to scavenge some oil, only to be captured by their attackers.

Brutally tortured for many cycles, Bumper never gave up the location of his fellow Autobots. Mirage respects him deeply for this. He is a superb technician and scientist, and will be her second-in-command.

**Clipper**

Clipper was protoformed on Planet Micro. She has a close friend at home named Holi. Clipper is serious-minded and can sometimes be a bit bossy. She is highly intelligent, dedicated, and somewhat impatient with her larger mech associates – especially the unserious ones.

Being a Micromaster, Clipper is the same size as Sari. Mirage suspects that her small size might be the source of her bossiness, as a cover for insecurity. She will be responsible for taking the design specifications left by the previous crew and the engineers and converting them into specific project tasks for the crew to follow.

**Excellion**

A somewhat brooding loner from the planet Velocitron, Excellion may have won more respect from the Decepticons than from the Autobots by successfully infiltrating their base completely unseen on more than one occasion. Being a Velocitronian, he is incredibly fast! While the Autobots appreciate his efforts, his dour attitude tends to estrange him from his peers. Despite this, Mirage sees great potential in this young bot, and hopes to coach him to come out of his shell.

Excellion will take the project tasks developed by Clipper and work from them to assemble the various system components.

**Hubcap**

Everybody likes Hubcap. He's friendly, always has a clever joke or compliment ready, and is generally a nice, fun, affable bot to be around. On the other hand, bots who know him, know to be very wary.

Some bots call Hubcap a con artist, others think he just likes having fun. He doesn't seem to have made many enemies with his tricks and scams, so perhaps it's all harmless. Of all the bots on this team, he drives Clipper nuts!

During the Great War, Hubcap was stationed as a communications officer. He's got very good audio receptors, capable of picking up incredibly weak signals, which is why Mirage chose him for her team; he will be her communications specialist.

**Lightspeed**

Looking in from the outside, you'd think Lightspeed had it all: He's highly intelligent, strong, fast, and considered dashingly good-looking by Transformers standards. And if any of that mattered to him at all, he'd be golden.

Sadly, Lightspeed aches down to the core of his Spark for something more. He yearns to escape the bonds of gravity and fly free. Dreams of soaring among the stars and exploring the vast mysteries of space consume him, making him feel slow, trapped, and dissatisfied. He once considered working with Cosmos, but when he learned that Cosmos did all his work on Cybertron and never actually went anywhere, he changed his mind.

Mirage's challenge will be to keep him focused on the task at hand, reminding him of the project goals. She needs his data processing expertise as they build the beacon transfer processes and do the delicate work of setting up and properly aligning the matrix. Despite his tendency to get distracted, she has every confidence in his superior technical skills and ability to get the job done. He will be the primary systems analyst, working closely with Clipper and Hubcap.

* * *

Optimus gave the bots an overview of the system, and how it provides a defensive matrix that feeds into the control center on Farside Beacon One. "When fully implemented, it will be a protective array against unwanted intruders, whether sentient or astronomical."

"The development of these security beacons is a cooperative Cybertron/Earth effort, and the technology developed and perfected here will be used on our home planet as well. That is why we are swapping out the construction teams after each third is completed. The departing team has left for Cybertron and will be stationed on Moon Base Two to design a similar matrix for the Hadeed system."

After the meeting, Sari and Mirage had a chance to catch up. "So, the Salvvatan assignment was an interesting one?" Sari asked.

"Very," said Mirage. Bumper, Clipper and I worked as a team up there. You should have seen some of the energon deposits we found! As high as Omega Supreme! We shared Orvus Base with the Throttlebots during our stay, but their work is highly classified, so we were cordoned off in a separate sector. Bumper knew one or two of them from way back, so we had a chance to socialize every now and then – good, friendly bots."

"Speaking of Clipper, it's nice to see a Micromaster on your team," said Sari. "I haven't yet had the chance to visit Micro. Maybe she can tell me a little bit about her home planet."

"Yeah, I caught her doing a double-take look at you when we first got off the ship," said Mirage, smiling. "She probably wondered if you were another Micromaster. I suspect she has a little bit of a size complex, and sometimes it expresses itself as bossiness. She's an excellent tech, and really knows her stuff. By all means, go pay her a visit and ask about her home planet – I'll bet she'd enjoy talking with you."

Sari stopped by Clipper's room after the meeting. "Hey, Clipper? May I come in?"

"Oh, hi, Sari, sure! Come on in! Nice to meet you – you work with Optimus Prime?"

"Yes, he's my partner here in this system. He oversees the Autobot/Human combined forces guarding the Terran, Lunar, and Martian defensive systems, and I'm the Earth/Cybertron Ambassador and Cyber-Ninja assigned to protect this sector."

"I see from your insignia you're a member of the Cybertron Elite Guard! Are you a Micromaster also?"

"No, I'm a Technorganic. I was a sparkling protoform on Earth. My alt form is an Earth human. Right now I live on the Lunar Colony. I've always wanted to visit Micro. Perhaps someday you can show me your home planet."

"I'd love to, Sari! When I get some free time, Holi and I – Holi's my mech friend – can show you the sights."

"I'd like that very much! What does Holi do?"

"He's a member of the Rescue Patrol Team," she said, sitting down at her workstation. She pulled up a photo of Holi. "Here he is."

"Good looking bot!" Sari said admiringly. "Oh, I'm familiar with the Rescue Patrol; they do great work! I look forward to meeting him."

"So, did you like the Salvvatan assignment?" she asked Clipper.

"It was a good assignment, being out there," Clipper said. "Mirage Prime's a great leader, and Bumper's an excellent scientist. We found lots of energon deposits. While there we stayed on Orvus Base, which is very high tech! The only problem I had staying there, was dodging the guzzlers," she sighed.

"Guzzlers?" Sari had a quizzical look on her face.

"Sorry," Clipper replied. "It's a Micromaster term, for normal-size Transformers. The ones on Orvus Base had a tendency to not look where they were stepping, if you know what I mean."

"Ha!" Sari laughed. "I know exactly what you mean! Whenever I'm on Cybertron, I have to keep an optic up. I've become quite good at dodging clumsy steps. Luckily, my best friend is a small Autobot named Bumblebee – although, you're going to laugh at this – my next best friend is a giant bot named Bulkhead," she smiled.

"Now, that's a contrast, Sari!" smiled Clipper.

"One thing we always have to do at Farside Beacon One is train new bot arrivals to watch out for the human crew."

Bumper came to Clipper's door. "Excuse me, Clipper, but – oh, hello, Sari! Please forgive the interruption."

"No problem, Bumper," said Sari. "We were just chatting."

"Thank you, ma'am," he said to Sari. "Clipper, Mirage would like for you and me to go over the last crew's technical specs."

"Will do," said Clipper, and turned to Sari. "Work calls," she smiled, and got up to follow Bumper to the work area.

"No worries," Sari replied. "I'll go find my partner. "It was very nice talking with you, Clipper."

"Same here, Sari. Perhaps I can visit the Lunar Colony sometime!" and waving, she headed down the hallway.

Sari caught up with Optimus, sitting chatting with Mirage. "So, did you have a chance to talk with Clipper?" asked Mirage.

"I did! We exchanged mutual invites to our homes, and – shared stories about jumping out of the way of big bot pedes," she winked.

"I think it's hard for Clipper, being the only Micromaster around in so many missions," Mirage said.

"Well, if my being nearby in this sector helps, glad to be of service!" Sari smiled. "As for Clipper, she and Bumper went to go examine some technical specs."

"Oh, good. I'm hoping to hit the ground running," said Mirage. "This defensive matrix is an excellent design, Optimus!"

"It was a cooperative effort by Mainframe and an Earth company, Sumdac Interplanetary Systems," replied Optimus.

"Sumdac Interplanetary Systems, eh? Seems I've heard that name 'Sumdac' somewhere before," quipped Mirage, turning to Sari with a grin.

"My father started it," Sari smiled.

"Gotta be a good one, then," Mirage replied.

**Sari and Mirage had a good reunion, and some new bots will begin work on the next third of the security beacons. As time permits, there will be new visitors to the Sumdac residence on the Lunar Colony, and Sari and Chandra will someday get a chance to visit the planet Micro! Thanks for reading.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Here we are on the Lunar Colony, where we find the Sumdac's celebrating a birthday!**

"Happy birthday to you,  
Happy birthday to you,  
Happy birthday, dear Chandra,  
Happy birthday to you!"

"Yay!" Chandra clapped, and Ron Witwicky was about to say, "blow the candles out, Chandra!" but Sari quickly motioned "No, no!" with her hands, knowing Chandra's lung power and where the cake, candles and frosting would wind up – splattered on a bot, up on the roof of the house, or down the street. Instead, Sari bent down and blew the candles out for her. Even though she was celebrating her first birthday, Chandra was developmentally closer to a two to two and a half-year old, climbing up and down stairs, using words in short phrases, and even making a complete sentence from time to time. She actually understood what was being said to her, and it was believed that Chandra could follow conversations that adults were having; one could actually wonder whether making an effort to spell words in the middle of sentences, in an attempt to keep her in the dark, were worth the effort.

Not just her lung power – her overall strength needed supervision. Chandra liked to play house – literally! Many times, Sari and Angie would find furniture moved around rooms in various positions.

Sari had let Chandra's beautiful red hair grow out, and she brushed it into a single ponytail that draped down the back of her head.

The party was held in the Sumdac's back yard so the Autobots could attend. Optimus, Bumblebee, and Firestar were there, and with a two week furlough from their work on the security beacons, Mirage and Clipper had managed to come. In fact, the day after the party, Clipper, Sari, and Chandra were on their way to the planet Micro for a tour of the Micromaster home planet, courtesy of Clipper and her best friend Holi!

Chandra was having a great time at her very first birthday party! She ran from game station to party table to invited guest, where she handed out hugs. She knew everyone by name – well, close enough. Bumblebee was "Bee!" Optimus was "Op!" And Firestar, whom she saw most frequently, was a complete "Firestar!" Clipper and Mirage were fairly new, so they were just "Clip!" and "Raj!" Still, to say this capability was exceptional for a one-year old, even a half-human technorganic, was putting it mildly. Sari and Angie looked on with loving pride.

After the party, Sari thanked everyone for coming. Clipper was staying in Sumdac's guest room, while Mirage stayed at the Lunar Base's Autobot guest quarters.

Sitting in the living room, the ladies planned the trip. "How much should we pack, Clipper?" asked Sari.

"I imagine it will depend on how much you'll want to be in 'human' mode while there," she responded. "The atmosphere is breathable, so you don't have to be in 'bot' mode; it's up to you."

"Well, I think I'll plan on staying in 'human' mode, since that's how Chandra will be," Sari replied. She packed enough clothes for a week, as well as Chandra's things, along with her stroller.

"What about food and formula?" Sari asked.

"Oh, Micro has food replicators for our organic visitors," said Clipper. "It will produce whatever food compounds you may need; I'll show you how to work them when we get there."

In order to take the space bridge, Adam had given Sari a special suit built just for toddlers like Chandra. When she showed Chandra her suit, Chandra wondered where her mother's suit was. "Where Mommy's suit?" she frowned.

"Mommy won't need a suit, sweetie," Sari explained. I will be in 'bot' mode."

"Bot?" Chandra looked puzzled. Sari had never used the terms "bot mode" and "human mode" at home. On checkup trips to Farside Beacon One she would be in "human" mode and wear a suit, and every time she came home Sari had already switched over to "human" mode. In truth, Sari had not yet transformed in front of Chandra.

"Maybe give her a demonstration, Sari," suggested Clipper. Sari nodded, and with a flash of blue, she changed to her Autobot self. "See sweetie, I'll be like this when we go on the space bridge."

Chandra was delighted at the sight! "Yay! Mommy bot!" and clapped. "Chandra bot, too!" and with a little flash of blue, Chandra suddenly changed into a little Autobot!

The ladies' jaws all dropped. "Oh, no, Miss Sumdac," said Angie, "we've been dreading this day."

Indeed! Chandra resembled a 73 cm Autobot Sari, with the same bi-color peach/yellow armor and helmet, grey bolts, digits and wings on her back, and bright crystal blue eyes on a flat-black colored face – her faceplate still covered her mouth. One thing was different from her mother: since Sari had shaped her red hair into a pony tail, Chandra had a single appendage coming out the back of her helm, shaped like a metallic pony tail.

"Question is, can she control it," said Clipper. "We can't let her go out into space and risk her suddenly transforming back into human!"

"I think a visit to Firestar is in order before we head to the space bridge," said Sari. "But first, let me see if I can coax her back. By now, the Autobot Chandra was walking around the house, delighted with seeing the world through her little optics. "Chandra bot! Chandra bot!" she laughed in her bot voice.

"Oh yikes, let's hope Chandra doesn't have any weaponry enabled," thought Clipper.

Sari followed her, still in "bot" mode, and caught up to her in the kitchen. "Chandra? Sweetie? Good job! I'm so proud of you! Now, let's go back to human! Watch mommy…" and Sari switched back to human with a blue flash.

Luckily, Chandra followed suit, and in a little blue flash, she also switched. Sari clapped her hands. "Yay! Good girl! Mommy's so proud of you!" And gave Chandra a big hug. Calling back into the living room, she said, "Hey, Angie? Give Firestar a call; tell her what's going on and ask her if we can stop on by."

* * *

Sari, Angie, and Clipper prepared to take the elevator to the surface. Sari and Angie donned their space suits and helped Chandra with hers. Putting on Chandra's helmet, Sari explained, "We're going to see Firestar, sweetie, so you need to stay human, like me, OK?"

"OK, mommy," she replied. At the surface, they walked to the shuttle, and Sari greeted her friend.

"Hey, Miko," said Sari. "Thanks for taking us on such short notice."

"No prob. Heard the little one began transforming. Let's not have her firing any orbs in my shuttle, OK?" Captain Nakadai winked.

"I'll do my best to keep her calm and human," said Sari, smiling.

Sari turned to Clipper and introduced her to Miko. "Miko, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine, this is Clipper, who is on furlough from working on the security beacons. Clipper's going to be taking Chandra and me to visit her home planet Micro."

Clipper offered a servo. "Pleased to meet you, Miko."

"Very nice to meet you, Clipper!" she returned the handshake. "Welcome aboard my shuttle. Make yourself comfortable. Next stop, Farside Beacon One," she smiled.

Arriving at Farside Beacon One's sick bay, Firestar examined Chandra. "Can't say I'm very surprised, Sari," Firestar said, looking at her vital signs. "After all, her Technorganic T-cog is fully functional, and probably what happened is, as soon as she saw you transform, her processor kicked in, and sent the command to transform to 'bot' mode herself. Kind of wish I had been there to witness it," she sighed.

"Well, if you like, why don't we give it a try here?" said Sari.

"Could you? I can record it for my records and send a copy to Dataminer." And Firestar turned to prepare her recording devices. After a few nanokliks she turned and said, "OK Sari, ready when you are."

Sari stepped over to Chandra. "Hey sweetie, would you like to transform for Firestar?" Chandra nodded. And with a flash of blue, Sari transformed into "bot" mode.

"Yay! Mommy bot!" clapped Chandra, and with her little blue flash, she transformed.

"Oh how cute!" said Firestar. "She's like a 'mini-me' version of you!"

Just then, there was an interruption. Bumblebee walked into sick bay while all this was going on. "Hey, doc! Can you take a look at my servo? It's been bothering me and…Whoa!" He did a double-take. "What…is…this? A little Sari?" he laughed.

Chandra's optics turned towards the door. "Bee! Bee!" She ran to him on her little pedes.

"Oh, no!" He laughed. "This is Chandra?" He picked her up. "Oh man, this is TOO cute! Hey Chandra, how're you doin'? You look just like Mommy!" Chandra gave a robotic giggle and reached at his face with her servos. "Bee!"

"She doesn't have any weapons enabled, does she Firestar?" asked Clipper.

"Uh, what? Weapons?" Bumblebee's optics opened wide.

"Oh, no, thank goodness. I don't see anything coming on until much later. My guess is not until she turns eight, just about the same time it happened with Sari."

"Whew!" Bee breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to the little bot in his arms. Looking towards his bud, he said, "Y'know Sar, this has got to be the most AMAZING thing I've ever seen…a tiny little you!" he chuckled. Sari could only smile, shake her helm and roll her optics.

"You said you're planning a visit to Micro?" Firestar asked.

"Yes," said Clipper. "I've got over a deca-cycle furlough, and I'm taking Sari and Chandra with me to visit."

"That's wonderful! I hope you three have a great time," smiled Firestar. She put away the recording device and said, "Well, other than the transforming, Chandra's the same as before, perfect Autobot health."

"But how will we know when she transforms back? We can't have her going into 'human' mode when we're somewhere where it's dangerous," said Sari.

"There's no way to tell, I'm afraid," said Firestar. "However, it seems that she follows your lead. From the way you describe it, when you transform, she transforms. But play it safe: If you are going out into space, I'd try to keep her in 'human' mode and in a space suit. Once you're in a breathable atmosphere where it doesn't matter, work with her: See if you can get her to only transform when you do. Her processor is advancing way beyond a human child, so hopefully it will be very soon when you can sit down and explain to her the proper times to stay in 'bot' mode."

"Uh, hey guys?" Bumblebee called over. "Maybe it's my imagination, but all the time you two were talking just now, Chandra's been watching you both very intently. Like, if she's following what you're saying."

Firestar tilted her helm and gave a "hey, could be!" expression. "You never know, Sari, she may already be grasping our concerns."

"I have a suggestion," Firestar continued, "on your return from Micro, why don't you make a stop by Cybertron and see Dataminer."

"Good idea. I'm certain he'll be excited to hear about her new ability," said Sari.

"Oh, one other thing doctor," said Angie. "Chandra has quite a bit of strength above and beyond what's normal for a human toddler."

"That's right," said Sari. "Lately, she's been rearranging furniture in the house.

"I see," said Firestar. "Well, it would make sense that her Autobot strength is being reflected in her human side as well. Remember, even in 'human' mode, she retains her Autobot skeletal structure and servo circuitry. I'm afraid it's something you'll have to adapt to."

"Understood," said Sari. "Looks like we'll have to learn to deal with it, Angie" she sighed.

"Right you are, Miss Sumdac. Still," Angie smiled, looking at Chandra with Bumblebee, "she IS cute transformed."

* * *

Sari, Clipper, and Chandra stood before the space bridge at Farside Beacon One. Sari and Chandra were in their space suits. Bumblebee was botting the controls. "You ladies ready?" he asked.

"Ready to go, Bee!" said Sari. "You excited, Clipper?" she asked the fembot Micromaster.

"Oh very much, Sari! Looking forward to seeing my home planet, and my sweetie, Holi."

The space bridge fired up, and the blue orb formed in front of them. "Pretty!" said Chandra.

"Ready, Chandra? We're going to jump into it." Said Sari, and put an arm around her to help with the jump. "On three: One, two, three!" And they jumped into the orb, and in the next instant, they landed on Clipper's home planet Micro.

"Welcome to Micro," said the space bridge controller bot. "Please step to your right and enter the registration building."

The ladies went through the registration process. Being a native, Clipper sailed on through, but the registrar bot called Sari back. "I'm sorry, Miss, but there appears to be a discrepancy on your admittance application."

"Oh? What is that?" she asked.

"Well, you say here that your planet of origin is Cybertron, but from all appearances you are human. Are you not from Earth?"

"Oh, I understand the confusion. I am a technorganic. I was a Cybertronian sparkling protoform that was placed on Earth and absorbed human DNA. I am half Cybertronian, half human. Allow me to demonstrate." And with a blue flash, she transformed into "bot" mode.

"Mommy bot! Mommy bot!" laughed Chandra, and transformed herself. Observing this, the registrar bot raised an optic and betrayed an amused smile. Looking back at Sari he inquired, "Your daughter, I presume?" Sari nodded. "Admittance granted!" he chuckled, and waived them on through.

"Hey, Sari, you may as well stay in 'bot' mode while you're here," suggested Clipper, "that is, as long as Chandra stays that way," she smiled.

"Works for me!" Sari said, and they stepped outside into the open air.

"Wow!" said Sari, looking at Micro for the first time. "What a beautiful city!" She gazed at the criss-crossed, tree lined boulevards, tall sleek crystal covered skyscrapers, and walkways connecting the buildings.

Looking up to the sky, she observed Micro's twin suns. "Now that's different!" she told Clipper.

"Wait until tonight when you can see our four moons," Clipper smiled. "For now, let's board a shuttle to the residential sector where we will be staying." And carrying their luggage, the fembots boarded a shuttle that took off into the sky, taking them to Clipper's home city. Sari looked out the window, and was awed by the view. Micro had a greenish-blue sky, lined with cloud cover of various thicknesses. Its two suns were visible through the overcast atmosphere. Below, Micro's many cities and towns were interconnected like a vast matrix with highways and smaller roads of various sizes.

The shuttle landed and they arrived at her residence. "Here we are," said Clipper, and they went in to the tall high rise. Taking the elevator up to her level, she led Sari and Chandra in to her apartment. "The guest room is down the hall. It's quite large; I think it will be comfortable for both you and Chandra, Sari. Please let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks, Clipper! I'm sure it will be perfect." And Sari carried their things into the guest room. It was more than adequate; there was a large bed, and plenty of space to store their things.

All this time, Chandra had remained in "bot" mode, which made it much easier for Sari – no diapers! Just to play it safe, in case she happened to switch back, Sari decided to tote a diaper bag with the essentials; in a little while they were about to go see Holi.

**So Chandra's now transforming into "bot" mode, which is a good thing and a challenging thing. Challenging, because now Sari and Angie will have to learn to deal with a tiny Autobot in the house (not to mention a toddler who can pick up furniture); good because while Chandra's in "bot" mode, there won't be any diapers to change (Dataminer's already confirmed that while a technorganic's in "bot" mode, the human organs are in stasis, so nothing to worry about once Chandra's back in "human" mode, folks).**

**In the next chapter, Sari continues her visit to Micro and gets to meet Holi. Will she have any work to do on Micro – maybe assist the Rescue Patrol Team? We'll see! Thanks for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sari and Chandra go visit Zone Base and meet Holi and the Rescue Patrol Team. Another famous Autobot comes as well!**

The next day, Sari and Chandra woke up from their stasis rest and met Clipper in the living room. "Hi, Clip!" Chandra greeted Clipper. "Good morning, you two!" smiled Clipper. "You ready to meet my friend Holi?"

"Holi!" clapped Chandra.

"I'd say she's looking forward to it," said Sari, "as am I. And I've always wanted to see the Zone Base. I've heard so much about it, and what an amazing base of operations it is."

"Yes, it's a giant hub," said Clipper. "It's where our planet coordinates all of the various Micromaster teams' operations. Holi and the Rescue Patrol Team will be expecting us, so if you're ready, we can be on our way!"

"Sounds good, right Chandra?"

"Yay! Zone Base!" Chandra clapped. Sari raised an optic and tilted her helm toward Clipper. "'Zone Base'? New word for her!" With that, the ladies headed out the door and down the elevator to street level. Taking the moving sidewalk over to Shuttle Central Station, they boarded the ship that was destined for the Micromaster's base of operations. On the way, Sari and Clipper engaged in small talk.

"So Clipper, how did you happen to work with Mirage?" Sari asked.

"Well, I worked for many stellar cycles here on Micro with Governor Riker, but then a rare opening came up to attend the Academy of Science and Technology on Cybertron, so I grabbed the slot and went to Cybertron to get my technical training. After graduation, I went to go work on Moon Base Two's radio dish systems."

"You did?" Sari thought back to a visit she made to Moon Base Two many years ago. "I don't suppose you ever worked with a bot named Quorra?"

"Quorra? Why, yes, I did," said Clipper. "She headed up thruster systems. We didn't work side by side, but we had many opportunities to share projects, why do you ask?"

"I helped her out with a little glitch in their thruster programs quite a while back, when I was visiting Moon Base Two," said Sari. "Funny that we both knew her; small Autobot Commonwealth, eh?" She smiled.

"Wait a minute. I remember that incident! We couldn't aim the moon properly; it was a big deal. You were the bot who fixed it?"

"Yep, that was me," Sari replied with a smile.

"By Primus! All we ever heard was that a visitor got it working. I never knew who it was!" Clipper could only smile and shake her helm at the sheer coincidence at finally meeting the bot that fixed the thruster glitch. "Well, nice to finally know the one who got it working – better late than never, eh?" Clipper laughed.

"Anyway, it was on Moon Base Two where I met Mirage. She was leading a team that was gearing up to go work on the Salvvatan System. They were about to begin their training for the mission. She liked what I was doing with the radio dish technical design specifications, and asked me if I would be interested in joining up. I jumped at the opportunity!"

"You really like doing the technical work, huh?"

"Oh, very much so! It's highly satisfying, figuring out the systems, and helping bots take things from concept to design to final end product."

"Do you ever miss working with the Governor?"

"Well, sometimes. I was his right-hand bot, helping with planet-wide administration."

"I'll bet he was sorry to see you go," Sari smiled.

"Oh he was, but he knew that those academy slots didn't open very often, so he actually was the one who encouraged me to apply. He's a really great boss! I helped him find my replacement, and we got a good one: Windrazor. She and Governor Riker make a good team."

"Windrazor, the motorcycle mini-con?" asked Sari.

"That's her," said Clipper. "She's a very hard worker, and I hear from my friends that things are going very smoothly."

The outline of Zone Base appeared on the horizon. "Look, Chandra, you can see the Rocket Base," said Clipper. "That big rocket is the Galaxy Shuttle."

Clipper kneeled on her seat and looked out the window at the shuttle, getting larger as they came nearer to the Zone Base landing site. Her optics opened wide. "Wow!"

Viewed from the sky, Zone Base resembled a giant sprawling space terminal, with interconnected station complexes separated by long covered pathways. A large main central backbone section, called Airport Base, brought all the various parts together. The Rocket Base with its Galaxy Shuttle ran across the end of one section of the backbone. It was the second largest of all the bases – after Airport Base, and together with Airport Base formed a giant "T" against the landscape.

The shuttle landing area was on the roof of Airport Base, and once at the terminal, Sari, Chandra and Clipper entered the main gate. "Let's go over to the Visitor's Center," said the Micromaster femme, "it's got a good audio-visual display of the entire complex." Inside the Center was a floor-mounted three-dimensional model of the entire Zone Base, with interactive display controls that let bots select and highlight specific areas to learn about their purpose. Sari selected the button for Zone Base:

"_**The Zone Base is the primary headquarters for the Autobot Micromaster teams operating on the planet. Formed from numerous interlocking Micromaster Stations, the Zone Base acts a staging area from which they deploy to protect planets all throughout their sector of the galaxy."**_

"This place is amazing!" said Sari, looking at the layout. She then selected the buttons for each of the five bases:

_**Rocket Base**_

"_**The enormously powerful Rocket Base is a potent force for good in the universe. Whether it's serving as the headquarters for Star Saber and the Rescue Patrol Team, or shuttling interstellar hero Countdown around the galaxy, it is a beacon standing tall against Decepticon tyranny. The base converts from a mobile launching pad and rocket into a full command center."**_

_**Gasoline Base**_

"_**Manned by Glasspit, the Gasoline Base is the "mess hall" of the Zone Base, supplying energon to the Micromaster warriors stationed on Zone Base. Like all the components of the Zone Base, the Gasoline Base can transform into a defensive battle station, and is armed with the tremendously powerful 'Energy Missiles' to repel attacks."**_

_**Fire Station**_

"_**Manned by Hot House, the Fire Station packs an amazing amount of weaponry. The mobile base converts from a garage and repair station into a treaded tank with a battering ram, missiles, rockets, and cannon."**_

_**Construction Station**_

"_**Manned by communications expert Ironworks, the Construction Station contains many diverse and random elements: a crane, an interstellar communicator, an iron forge, and a missile launcher. The station normally functions as a construction site, but can convert to a heavily armed communications tower mode."**_

_**Airport Base**_

"_**The Airport Base is a key component of the Zone Base, serving as the complex's spaceport, where owner and operator Overair welcomes visitors from all over the galaxy. Like all the components of the Zone Base, the Airport Base can transform into a defensive battle station, armed with surface-to-air missiles to intercept any intruders into Micro airspace."**_

"This place is huge!" Sari remarked. "Very impressive!"

"Like the display said, the Rescue Patrol Team are headquartered over in the Rocket Base," said Clipper.

"Let's go there first," said Sari. "I'm sure you're anxious to meet up with Holi."

"You know it!" replied Clipper. Looking at the display, they found the tram boarding site. "Next stop, Rescue Patrol Team headquarters!" Sari told Chandra as the tram took off.

Riding the tram from the Visitor's Center to Rocket Base, they passed by dozens of Micromaster bots going to and fro, working at the various stations. Chandra, kneeling on her seat, waved at all the bots as the tram passed. "Hi!" "Bye!"

Finally, the tram got to the end of the "T", where Rocket Base was located. Getting off, they walked through the entrance. "I'm so excited to see Holi!" said Clipper.

"Holi! Holi!" said Chandra.

The first bot they first saw at Rocket base was Pīpō, the ambulance Micromaster. "Pīpō!" Clipper called out. "So good to see you!"

"Hey! Clipper! Long time, no see!" He waved and walked over to the trio. "Everyone's upstairs, getting the place in tip-top shape, preparing for the arrival of the Supreme Commander!"

"Star Saber's coming?" said Sari. "I've always hoped to meet him!"

"Oh! Where are my manners!" said Clipper. "Pīpō, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine; this is Sari Sumdac, from the Earth system. Sari, this is my friend Pīpō, one of the members of the Rescue Patrol Team."

"So nice to meet you, Pīpō!" Sari held out a servo.

"Likewise, Sari!" shaking back. "And who is this little one?" said Pīpō, looking down at Chandra.

"Pīpō, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Chandra; Chandra, say hello to Pīpō."

"Chandra giggled. "Pō!" and held up her little servo.

Pīpō laughed and took her little servo in his, "Well, so very nice to meet you, Chandra!"

"So, when is Star Saber due?" asked Sari.

"Very soon, Sari. I'm glad you'll have the opportunity to meet him. He's been very busy in this sector. We've had some nasty attacks here lately from mercenaries hired by Strika."

"Strika!" Sari nearly spit out the name. "I've been chasing that Decepticon around the galaxy for nearly 20 stellar cycles.

"You have?" Pīpō raised an optic. "What exactly do you do, Sari?"

"Sari's a powerful Cyber-Ninja, Pīpō," explained Clipper, "and you can say she's her sector's equivalent of Star Saber."

"Oh!" Pīpō looked back at Sari with a sense of awe. "Please, forgive any disrespect, Sari! I had no idea!"

"Oh, think nothing of it!" Sari replied.

"Pīpō! Have you finished cleaning up down there?" came a shout from upstairs.

"Not yet, Holi!" said Pīpō. "By the way, your girlfriend's here!"

"What?!" Holi came running downstairs, nearly tripping. "Clipper!" He nearly ran into her. Boater and Fire followed behind. "Oh ho! Hey, look! Holi's girlfriend's arrived!" Fire said.

"Quiet, you!" said Holi. He sighed, looking at Clipper.

"Still no respect, eh?" smiled Clipper, cocking her helm to one side.

"I'm working on it," said Holi, holding her servos in his. "It's so good to see you, Clipper!"

Sari smiled at the reunion. Clipper turned to Sari and Chandra. "Holi, I'd like you to meet some friends of mine. This is Sari Sumdac, Earth's Cyber-Ninja protector, and her daughter, Chandra."

"Very nice to meet you, Holi," said Sari, holding out her servo. Chandra laughed and clapped. "Yay, Holi!"

"Well! So nice to meet you two!" he said, shaking Sari's servo and kneeling down, putting a servo on Chandra's shoulder. "Cyber-Ninja? Glad to have you here! Forgive our mess; we're straightening up, getting ready for a visit from the Supreme Commander, Star Saber."

"Yes, Pīpō told us. I'm looking forward to meeting him," said Sari. "While we're waiting, can we help you out?"

"Yes, Holi," said Clipper. "Let us lend a servo." And with the ladies' assistance, the Rocket Base was made ready.

"Excellent job, everyone," said Holi, "and thanks for your help, ladies. Sari, let me take you and Chandra around; and Clipper, I want you to see some of the new things we've added."

They went over to the main command center, where multiple monitors lined the walls and control consoles ran the length of the room. "Here, we can communicate with our counterparts in planets across the sector, and be alerted to any Decepticon activity or natural threats. We can also stay in communication with our bots out on assignment, whether they're here on Micro, one of the moons, or working elsewhere."

Holi then took them down the hallway to a large door, which led to a huge outside area. "This is our training site," he explained. There was a six-story building with crash-test dummies on every floor, and the building looked like it had been set on fire multiple times. "This is Fire's training building. We set the building on fire, and he then drills on rescuing those dummies out of it."

Next to the building was a large rectangular body of water. "As you might guess, Boater uses this area for his drills. If you look way down the end, you can see what looks like a low building; that's our mock-up hospital, and Boater drills on ferrying the crash-test dummies that Fire brings down from the building to the hospital. Naturally, his alt form is used for water rescues, such as the time when there was a Decepticon attack on an aquatic amusement park. Boater was very busy that day!"

Alongside the waterway was a four-lane highway. "The highway is used by Pīpō and me. We drill on bringing the dummies from Fire's building to the hospital in our alt modes – Pīpō in his ambulance, me in my police car."

"Of course, once we arrive at the hospital, we transform out of our alt modes and carry the 'injured' into the mock-up hospital. Naturally, our drills are timed and we always strive to improve."

"Hostages and injured are very lucky to have such dedicated bots as the Rescue Patrol Team," said Sari. "I've done rescues myself, and I sure could have used your team by my side," she smiled.

"Thank you, Sari," said Holi. "That means a lot, coming from an Elite Guard member and a Cyber-Ninja."

Going back into the Rocket Base building, Holi continued with the tour. "Down this hall are our quarters, and here on the right is our recreation room."

Rounding the tour, they came to the staircase – the one Holi nearly fell down rushing to see Clipper – and he led them up. "On the second floor is our exercise room." They saw all of their equipment, from benches and racks, to treadmills and free weights.

"Impressive!" remarked Sari. While she was chatting with Holi, Chandra walked over to the free weights and picked one up. Clipper looked over and saw her. "Chandra! Be careful with those!" Everyone turned to see Chandra pick up one of the heavier free weights and hold it over her head. "Weight!" she shouted.

"Oh, sweetie! Let me help you with that!" and Sari hurried before Chandra might lose her balance. Sari picked it up. "Thanks, Chandra, that's a heavy one!" and put it back on the rack.

"Uh, did she just lift a 120 kg weight?" Holi asked incredulously, optics wide.

"Oh, you should see her rearranging my furniture at home!" said Sari.

"Whoa, that's one strong little bot you've got there, Sari," replied Holi.

"Ha! Tell me about it!" she laughed.

"Holi! Star Saber's arriving!" Fire called from downstairs.

"Alright! Let's get ready, everyone," Holi responded, and they went downstairs to greet him.

Star Saber entered the Rocket Base, as the Rescue Patrol Team stood at attention. Sari, Chandra and Clipper stood behind.

"Welcome, Supreme Commander!" said Holi, saluting.

"Thank you, Holi!" said Star Saber, returning the salute. "At ease, Rescue Patrol Team. It's good to be back."

He then spied their guests. "Well, Clipper! So good to see you again! And do my optics deceive me? Is this Sari Sumdac here with us?"

"It is I, Supreme Commander," said Sari, nodding her helm in greeting. "I am honored to make your acquaintance."

"The honor is all mine, Cyber-Ninja. And who is this young bot with you?"

"This is my daughter, Chandra. Chandra, say hello to Star Saber."

Chandra held up a servo to shake hands. "Hello, Star Saber," she said. Sari and Clipper looked at each other, amazed that she'd not only said his name in full, but uttered a complete sentence.

Star Saber chuckled and kneeling down, returned her handshake. "Well, so very pleased to meet you, Chandra."

"So, Sari, what brings you to our sector?" he asked.

"Clipper is on furlough from her assignment, and Chandra and I have come to visit her home planet. I've always wanted to see Micro, and have a chance to meet the Rescue Patrol Team. I was especially excited when they told me that the Supreme Commander was due to visit as well," she smiled.

"Well, I hope you two enjoy your stay! Micro is one of the most beautiful planets in this sector." Said Star Saber.

The conversation was interrupted by an alert on the command console. Holi rushed to study the output. "Supreme Commander! There's been an attack on the plasma energy plant by Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus. The command center is on fire, with many wounded."

"We must head there immediately!" said Star Saber. "This is Strika's doing; I've received intel that she's been hiring mercenaries to weaken this sector's defenses in anticipation of an attack."

"Star Saber, let me help you!" said Sari.

"We could certainly use your assistance," replied Star Saber. "Rescue Patrol Team! Prepare to leave!"

Holi and the team got ready to board the Galaxy Shuttle to head to the energy plant. He went to Clipper to say goodbye. "It seems like we just said hello, Clipper," holding her servos in his."

"I know, Holi," she said, giving him a hug. "I will wait for your return."

"Clipper, can you watch Chandra for me?" Sari asked.

"Of course!" replied Clipper. But Clipper cried and wouldn't let go of Sari's servo, "No, Mommy, no! Don't go!"

Clipper then had an idea. Kneeling down to Chandra, she said, "Chandra, will you do me a favor?" Chandra nodded. "Holi has to go with Star Saber, and I will miss him. Will you please tell him to be sure to come back for me? And I will tell mommy to be sure to come back for you, OK?"

Chandra said, "OK, Clipper," and she walked up to Holi. "Holi?" Holi kneeled down to Chandra. "Clipper will miss you. You come back, OK?" Holi put his servo on Chandra's shoulder and said, "I will Chandra, I will."

Then Clipper walked up to Sari and said to her, "Sari, Chandra will miss you. You come back, OK?" Sari put her servo on Clipper's shoulder and said "I will, Clipper."

Clipper then walked back to Chandra and took her servo and said. "OK, we will wait for them."

Chandra said, "OK, we will wait."

And they both waved goodbye, and Sari and Holi left.

**Sorry for the long delay in putting out this chapter. I've been working with LuisJM on his story, "Transformers Prime Season 3 Episode 1: Rebirth" – it's an excellent one based on Transformers Prime, check it out!**

**So Sari's going to go assist Star Saber battle Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus; should be a good fight! I'm sure Sari's not going to let them get away! Chandra and Clipper will wait for Sari and Holi's return. Thanks for reading.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sari and Star Saber head to where the plasma energy plant is located. Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus had landed nearby and began terrorizing the populace. Holi and the Rescue Patrol Team arrived on the Galaxy Shuttle to assist in getting the injured to safety and to the hospital.**

Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus landed at a city near the plasma energy plant and began firing at the Micromasters. "Look at them little ankle-biters scatter!" Blue Bacchus laughed. "Like shooting fish in a barrel!" He let loose with his shoulder-armed missiles and took out two of the largest towers. Alarms went off all through the city. "Ah! Sweet music!"

"I'm not gonna let you have all the fun!" yelled Black Shadow, and opened up his shoulder mods, letting dozens of missiles fire out, hitting a nearby residential sector.

The Micromaster Defense forces began firing back, hitting them with their particle-combustion cannons. One hit Blue Bacchus dead on in his back, knocking him to his knees. "You slagging ants! I'll get you for that!" and getting back up, turned his gun on the artillery.

"Blue Bacchus! Black Shadow!" yelled Star Saber, landing nearby the two. "Stand down!"

"Hey, Black Shadow, look who showed up!" laughed the cold-hearted Decepticon. "You going to take us on all by yourself, saber bot?"

Black Shadow turned and was about to fire back at Star Saber with additional missiles, when suddenly Sari flew up behind him at top speed. She materialized her energy hammer and slammed it into the back of his helm. The force was so great it propelled him forward until he slammed face-down into the ground, temporarily knocking him out.

"What? Who is this mosquito flying about?" Demanded Blue Bacchus.

"Try and catch me, Blue Bumbler!" said Sari, hovering around and about his chassis, mocking him.

"Don't you DARE make fun of my name!" he screamed, as he kept trying to fire at her with his high-powered gun.

"Be careful, Sari," thought Star Saber, "he's an expert marksman." And Star Saber rushed at Blue Bacchus with his sword while he was distracted by Sari's taunting.

A few of his blasts did manage to come a little too close for comfort. "Yikes, he IS good," she thought, flying back and forth. "At least, we've stopped him from firing on innocent civilians."

Star Saber attacked Blue Bacchus with his sword relentlessly and at the same time deflected his gun blasts, giving Sari a chance to avoid them. This team-up activity between the two gave her a chance to fly closer and closer to Blue Bacchus' arm until finally, she used her arm-blade to destroy his gun. "OW!" He screamed. "You slagging little freak! NOBODY destroys my best mod! I'll kill you for that!" he yelled. But Star Saber managed to get in close combat and grabbing his left servo, used a Jujutsu technique to pick him up and throw him down to the ground, pinning him.

By this time Black Shadow had come to. Rubbing the back of his helm, he yelled, "Who hit me?" Seeing Blue Bacchus and Star Saber fighting, he got up to attack. Sari flew up to him to get in his way. "No so fast!" she said.

He laughed, "And who is this little flying Micromaster, to order me around? Here, eat some missiles!" He opened the mod on his shoulder and dozens of missiles came screaming at her. Sari's targeting mod locked on to each one, and her servos were blurs, taking out every one. They all dissolved into bursts of blue. "You've got to do a lot better than that, Decepticon!" Stunned by this turn of events, and still a little slow from the knock to his helm, Black Shadow was thrown temporarily off guard, which gave Sari her opening. She flew towards his Spark Chamber and used Circuit-Su to paralyze him. He fell back to the ground.

"What happened to me?" he yelled. "I can't move! What sorcery is this? Who are you?!"

"Sari Sumdac, Cyber-Ninja," she responded, and touching her helm, she contacted Governor Riker. "Governor, send for the trooper bots. Black Shadow has been taken down."

"Acknowledged, Sari, thanks" said the Governor. Sari then went to see if Star Saber needed assistance with Blue Bacchus. He was pinning him down with his sword, but then Blue Bacchus managed to transform into his helicopter, and got out of his grip. "Farewell, Star Saber! Perhaps another day!"

"Blue Bacchus! Don't leave me here!" yelled Black Shadow.

"Sorry, about that, pal," he replied. "Every bot for himself!" And started to take off into the sky.

"Scrapping vapor trash! You'll regret that!" cursed Black Shadow.

"Star Saber! Let us focus our energies!" said Sari. Star Saber aimed his sword's energy bolt at Blue Bacchus, and Sari charged the plasma thrusters on her servos with Processor-Over-Matter. Bolts of pure white energy surged out, aimed at the helicopter. Together with Star Saber's energy sword, Blue Bacchus was drained of all power and crashed to the ground.

Sari flew to the crash site and paralyzed Blue Bacchus as well. "He's not going anywhere, Star Saber," she said. "General Riker is sending the trooper bots."

"Thank you, Sari. You have been an invaluable help today. The planet Micro and I owe you a great debt."

"I am honored to have been of assistance, Supreme Commander," she replied.

"Hey, tunnel drone! You get very far?" Black Shadow mocked his partner.

"Shut up!" responded Blue Bacchus.

"Quiet, you two!" Sari told them. Then she said to the Supreme Commander, "Star Saber, let me go see if I can help the Rescue Patrol Team." And she flew over to where they were aiding the injured.

"Holi! Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus have been taken down. The trooper bots are picking them up."

"Sari, that is great news!"

"Is there anything I can do to assist the Rescue Patrol Team?"

"We are just about done here, but thank you. If you make it back to Rocket Base before me, let Clipper know we are OK."

"Roger that. See you back there." And Sari headed off.

* * *

"Mommy! Mommy!" Chandra yelled when she saw Sari land back at Rocket Base. She ran towards her and gave her a big hug. "You came back! You came back! Is Holi coming back?"

"Yes, Chandra, Holi is coming back; he will be here soon," said Sari. Chandra ran to Clipper. "Clipper? Holi is coming back!"

"Thank you, Chandra," said Clipper. She then looked up to the sky. "Look, Chandra! Here comes the Galaxy Shuttle!" Chandra started clapping. "Yay! Holi and the Rescue Patrol Team!"

The shuttle landed and everyone disembarked. Clipper waited for Holi to emerge, and ran up to greet him. "Welcome back!" She then asked, "Were there many injured?"

"Quite a few," he replied, "but we managed to get them to the hospital. We're hopeful that we got there in time."

Clipper gave him a hug. "I know you all did your very best!"

Star Saber arrived back, and Holi saluted. "Welcome back, Supreme Commander. We were able to get the injured to the hospital. I'm afraid it will take a while for Ironworks and his crew to effect repairs on the buildings, though."

"Fortunately, with Sari's help, we were able to stop Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus and bring them to justice. They will no longer be a scourge on our sector."

"Three cheers for Supreme Commander and Sari Sumdac!" Yelled Holi. "Hip hip, Hooray! Hip hip, Hooray! Hip hip, Hooray!"

When they returned inside Rocket Base, they noticed a red light beeping on the console; a message was received while everyone was at the Galaxy Shuttle. It was from Optimus for Sari. She and Chandra are to get on the space bridge ASAP and meet him at Cybertron for an urgent meeting. Optimus needed her to reply back, and let him know when she was on her way. Sari contacted him immediately. "Sari here, Optimus; what's this about?"

"I am here on Cybertron with Julie," he replied. Wheeljack is calling a meeting and wants you and me there. Julie will watch Chandra for you while we attend. I'm afraid that's all I can go into at this juncture."

"Understood. We are on our way." Sari closed the communication and turned to her friends. "I'm afraid Chandra and I have to cut our trip short," she said. "Duty calls, as you just saw."

"Acknowledged, Sari," said Star Saber. "We owe you a great debt of gratitude for everything you did today. I hope you will be able to return soon; perhaps you can persuade your partner to join you!" Star Saber then saluted Sari.

Sari returned the salute. "Thank you, Supreme Commander! I hope our time apart will be short, and when I come back it will be with Optimus Prime!" Chandra came up to Star Saber and saluted. "Good bye, Star Saber." Smiling, he returned Chandra's salute. "And goodbye to you, Chandra! I hope to see you again soon!"

Sari turned to Holi, Clipper and the Rescue Patrol. "So sorry to cut our visit short," she said. "I'm sure this meeting is for a very important reason. Your planet is so beautiful! I am honored to have had a part in its defense."

Holi saluted Sari. "Sari, on behalf of the Rescue Patrol Team, thank you for helping to save our people and bringing the accursed Blue Bacchus and Black Shadow to justice! When you have the chance to return, Governor Riker will want to recognize this act, I am sure."

Clipper chimed in. "Yes Sari, I was planning for us to visit Governor Riker's office and see how he and Windrazor are doing. I'm still going there and I will be sure he knows about everyone who participated in today's battle."

"Thank you, Clipper," said Sari. "And thank you so much for your hospitality, and showing us the sights! Chandra and I enjoyed having our own tour guide, didn't we, Chandra?" Chandra nodded, and said "Thank you, Clipper!"

With that, Sari, Clipper and Chandra headed for the tram and boarded the shuttle to Clipper's apartment, where Sari packed their things. They then went to the space bridge transportation center. "Two for Cybertron, please," said Sari. The space bridge controller bot checked Sari's ID and saw that Optimus had already entered in the coordinates for her arrival. "Ready when you are, ma'am."

Sari turned to Clipper. "Thanks again, Clipper. Wish we could have stayed longer. Hope to see you again, perhaps on the security beacon construction site."

Clipper gave Sari and Chandra hugs. "Goodbye, you two! And good luck with your meeting, Sari."

Chandra switched to "human" mode so she could give Clipper a little kiss on the cheek. "Bye Clip!". She then switched back to "bot" mode. "Hmm," thought Sari, "she's getting good at this."

"Ready, sweetie?" Sari started to put an arm around her to help with the jump, but Chandra said, "Let me try, Mommy."

"Alright, let's just hold servos, then," replied Sari, and together they jumped into the huge blue orb.

In the next instant, they arrived on Cybertron. "Welcome to Cybertron," said the space bridge bot. "Optimus Prime is waiting for you at the Metroplex. I will send him a message to let him know you are on your way."

Sari and Chandra headed over to the Metroplex and there they saw Optimus and Julie. "Op! Julie!" shouted Chandra, running towards them. Julie tried picking up the Autobot Chandra. "Ooof! Oh my, Chandra! You are much heavier in 'bot' mode, aren't you? Let's hold hands, shall we?" she smiled.

"I've got a bot friend who can take Julie and Chandra to your apartment, Sari," said Optimus. Then you and I can go to this meeting that Wheeljack has called."

"Do you know what this is about?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not," he responded. "Just that they need both of us there. Wheeljack is a member of the Science Guild, so perhaps it has something to do with what they've uncovered in Starscream's underground lab."

Sari knelt down and told Chandra, "OK sweetie, I've got an important meeting to attend with Optimus, so you go with Julie, and I'll see you in a little bit."

"OK, mommy," Chandra replied, and she looked up to Julie. "We go to mommy's apartment now?"

Julie's eyes opened wide and she raised an eyebrow, seeing how Chandra's vocabulary and sentence construction have taken a quantum leap in just a few days during her time on Micro. "Yes, Chandra, let's go to mommy's apartment." Optimus' friend then transformed into his alt mode and they got in. "Bye, mommy! See you later!" Chandra waved.

"Bye, Chandra!" And Sari and Optimus entered the Metroplex. Wheeljack was waiting for them. "Thank you both for coming on such short notice," he said. Please follow me to the conference room. We will be meeting with Mainframe, Perceptor, and Alpha Trion." They walked down the hallway towards an area of the Metroplex known as an Autobot Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or ASCIF. There were Autobot guards at a large vault-like doorway, with a special access control that opened the door. Wheeljack walked up to one of the guards. "Two visitors: Optimus Prime and Sari Sumdac. I will be their escort."

"Yes sir," said the guard, who turned to the guests. "Please step forward so I can record your energon signatures for identification," said the guard to Optimus and Sari. They did, and he scanned them. "You may proceed."

Wheeljack then came to the access control and allowed it to scan his energon signature. "Identification: Wheeljack. Access granted," said the computer. The vault door then opened. As Sari began to cross the threshold, the computer said "Halt! It then scanned her. "Identification: Sari Sumdac. Escort required; escort is Wheeljack." The same happened for Optimus.

Once inside, they went down a hall to a conference room, where Mainframe, Perceptor, and Alpha Trion were waiting. "Please, be seated," said Alpha Trion.

**So Sari and Optimus are in a specially-called meeting. I wonder what it's about? We'll find the answer in the next chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sari and Optimus were called in to a special meeting with Wheeljack, Perceptor, Alpha Trion, and Mainframe. **

"Thanks to both of you for coming on such short notice," said Wheeljack. "I wouldn't have made this request if it wasn't of the utmost importance. And I especially appreciate the cooperation of your nanny, Sari. She was so very helpful to us and more than willing to assist in watching Chandra at your apartment."

"So, this is a highly classified briefing – is that why you were unable to give me any information beforehand?" asked Sari.

"Exactly," said Perceptor. The information we are about to share with you has been classified Cybertron Top Secret. It will be declassified at a later date."

Wheeljack turned to both partners. "Sari, Optimus, this briefing has to do with the data we retrieved from the laboratory underneath the Nemesis. We found an enormous amount of archives in the recovered files. Evidently, Starscream had brought it down from the crashed Nemesis ship. It was encrypted, but that was not the problem; the huge volume of data, and having to catalog and cross-reference the entries was what took all this time. What we found gave us some important clues about your origins, Sari, which is why we called you here."

Sari's optics opened wide. "My origins?"

"Yes. And being that you two are partners, and close friends, we wanted both of you to be here for the briefing. Sari, please be prepared, because what I am about to tell you will be very disturbing, and Optimus, we hope that you can be a support for her." Sari and Optimus exchanged concerned looks. "Go on," she said.

Wheeljack continued. "Very well. From what we can determine from the log entries, cross-referenced against our Cybertronian historical records, Sari, you were not supposed to have appeared in your father's lab."

"What?" Sari fell back in her chair.

"I'm afraid it's true. Instead, it appears that your stasis pod was supposed to have been deposited with an earth-based terrorist organization."

"TERRORISTS!?" Sari was beginning to feel sick. She looked at Optimus, who looked back at his partner with great concern, and struggled for a response. "What, what do you mean, 'terrorists', Wheeljack?" asked Optimus.

Wheeljack explained. "I know this is very hard for both of you to take in, so I apologize up front. Here is what we have been able to piece together: As you know from our history, Lockdown stole unborn protoforms from Master Yoketron's Cyber-Ninja Dojo. What has been classified to everyone outside this room as top secret, is the fact that also stored with the protoforms were six sparkling protoforms that were intended for much higher purposes if Project Omega had failed. These sparkling protoforms were imbued with an enormous number of very powerful mods, and were intended to become a special class of technorganic warriors to fight the Decepticons."

"Based on what we have retrieved from the Decepticon archives, we now know for certain, Sari, that you were one of the six stolen sparkling protoforms," said Mainframe.

"I was? But, why was this never revealed to me before?" Sari asked.

"Because although we suspected it, we could never be certain," said Perceptor. "All we knew before this time was that six sparkling protoforms were stolen as part of a top secret project. That you were one of these could never have been definitively proved, until now. Dataminer will tell you that there were other sparkling protoforms created over many, many stellar cycles, and even though you possess many mods, you could have come from any number of them. Until now, we had no solid evidence."

"This was a top secret project, known only to Perceptor, myself, and Master Yoketron," said Wheeljack. "We have only recently shared this with Mainframe and Alpha Trion."

"You remember when you, your father, Glyph and I visited Sumdac Tower and he replayed those security camera archives? We were hoping to gain an insight into your origins with that sudden flash, but unfortunately it overpowered the earth's camera and we were unable to get any details. However, it was at that time that I began wondering whether you might have been one of the missing six. Unfortunately, the project was top secret, and I was unable to share anything with you, your father, even with Glyph."

"These six sparkling protoforms, how were they intended to be used?" asked Optimus.

"The plan was to merge them with other species in the Autobot Commonwealth," said Wheeljack. "It was believed that our Cybertronian species could be mixed with other races, and the resulting whole would be greater than the sum of its parts. The new technorganics would have one foot in Cybertron, and one foot in their other home world, thus creating not only a defender for the two, but a bridge. These six would be a cadre of commonwealth ambassadors who could represent both worlds, and also be capable of defending our planets against Decepticon attacks."

Sari tried to take in what he just said. For as it turned out, she wound up being the result of this grand strategy anyway, but how did it happen, if not by design? Sari was becoming a little angry. Was her whole life just an amazing coincidence? "So, the fact that I turned out the way I did, and am an ambassador and a Cyber-Ninja, my life, all of this happened to me, what, by accident?" she frowned.

"No, Sari!" said Alpha Trion in earnest. "I believe that your entire life has been guided by the AllSpark."

"The rest of this story certainly suggests it," said Wheeljack. "Please, let me continue."

"Along with the unborn protoforms, these six sparkling protoforms were stolen from Master Yoketron's Cyber-Ninja Dojo by Lockdown as I said, and handed over to Scalpel in exchange for some valuable mods. According to the records we retrieved, Scalpel had examined the sparkling protoforms and realized how special they were. Megatron surmised that we must have been designing them for some military purpose. He and Scalpel then hatched their own plot, similar to ours. The Nemesis was near the Terran system at the time, and a deal was arranged between the Decepticons and this Earth terrorist organization, to create and raise these technorganics as half-human guerrillas. When grown, they would then be returned to Megatron as ultimate warriors to fight the Autobots. However, rather than get too close to full humans, the Decepticons preferred to let a middleman arrange the negotiations and finalize the transaction."

"Swindle." Sari spit out the name.

"Correct. However, Swindle decided it would be best to arrange the transfer one protoform at a time, as a way for him to increase profits. He thought that if the first technorganic half-human experiment proved a success, he could increase the price on successive transfers. So he bargained for the delivery to the terrorists of only one sparkling protoform, and that was you."

Sari couldn't believe what she was hearing. Instead of being touched by her loving father's hand, she was supposed to have been touched by some filthy terrorist warlord, absorbed his DNA, and grown up to be an enemy technorganic femme for Megatron? She put her face in her servos, and her shoulders began shaking. "This is almost too much to take!" she cried.

Optimus put his servo on her shoulder. His face, normally stoic, registered extreme pain for what his partner was going through. "Oh Sari," he said.

Raising her helm, she had to ask, "How did I wind up in my father's lab, instead of in the hands of the terrorists?"

"You can thank the Decepticons for that little error," said Perceptor, "specifically Starscream. You see, the terrorist's location was at the Earth coordinates '42.331389, +83.045833', which is in the Tian Shan mountains of Central Asia, near the Earth country of Kazakhstan. Starscream made one small error in the coordinates he transmitted to Swindle, and sent '42.331389, -83.045833', which happens to be a location in Detroit – specifically, Sumdac Towers. So by a sloppy one-character mistake, he instructed Swindle to transport your stasis pod into your Father's lab."

Sari was absolutely stunned. The course of her entire life had hinged around the result of a single character in an Earth coordinate, and the carelessness of a Decepticon! She couldn't move; she sat there, optics staring at Perceptor.

Wheeljack continued. "The terrorists complained to Swindle that they never received their package, and Starscream never admitted to the error. Swindle backed out of the whole deal – never returning the money, of course – and everything fell through. Starscream convinced Megatron that it was Swindle's fault, and megalomaniac that he was, let Megatron think that it was his idea to only trust Swindle with one pod. Megatron let him take charge of the remaining sparkling protoforms, charging him to find a use for them in his cloning laboratory. The plan with the earth terrorists was abandoned."

"Fortunately, no one ever bothered to find out where you actually ended up, because Megatron turned his attention back to finding the AllSpark. They left earth and forgot about you. Swindle on his part got involved in other lucrative activities and didn't much care about finding out what happened to 'his' stasis pod with all the valuable mods."

"No, not until much later, when I received my Cybertronian citizenship and word got out that I was the first technorganic to receive such an honor."

"Yes, I remember. Swindle put together a posse to capture you. I heard that didn't work out too well," said Wheeljack. "He gave up after that, and now, well, if he knows what's best for him he'd better stay away from Cybertron's most powerful Cyber-Ninja," he smiled.

"When Starscream crashed The Nemesis on the moon, he built the lab underground, intending to make use of the remaining sparkling protoforms, but only after he had finally gotten rid of Megatron. Unfortunately for him, he was killed first, and the mystery of the lab died with him – except perhaps among his clones."

"Like Slipstream," said Optimus.

"Yes," said Wheeljack. "Most likely, that's why she was headed there. "Of course, we don't know whether she knew how to disable all of Starscream's failsafe devices. It could have been a great disaster."

"Fortunately, you two stopped her in time," said Mainframe.

"As I said, Sari, in a very special way, your entire life has been guided by the AllSpark," said Alpha Trion. "I believe to the depths of my Spark that none of these events have been by chance, or accidental. Not Starscream's error, not the coordinates that placed the pod in your father's lab, not your landing in the hold of Optimus' ship and speaking with the AllSpark, nor your ability to assist Ratchet in repairing Arcee's processor."

"Nor your Spark link with Prowl," said Wheeljack.

Those words comforted Sari. She looked up to Optimus, and he smiled back. "I have considered my friendship with Sari to be one of my life's greatest treasures," said Optimus, "and I thank the AllSpark for forging our partnership and making it strong."

"Thank you, partner," said Sari, and put her servo on his. "And thank you all for this information. My entire life, I have wondered about my origins, although I must admit, never in my processor's wildest imaginings would I have been able to concoct a tale like the one you just gave me."

"What about the remaining sparkling protoforms?" asked Optimus.

"That leads us to the next part of our meeting," said Alpha Trion. Thank Primus, we have them back, and even though Project Omega was a success, we still want to proceed with our plan. Earth was not part of the Autobot Commonwealth at the time, but with Sari's history it has become obvious to us now that it is a very important part of the AllSpark's design. As such, we strongly believe that at least half of them should be human technorganics."

"That would leave one additional sparkling protoform to become a Cybertronian/human technorganic, Sari," said Wheeljack. As Cybertron/Earth ambassador, we want you to help choose an individual who would be willing to participate in this effort."

"Find someone to have their DNA absorbed and raise the technorganic baby?" Sari raised her optics at the enormity of this task. To search Earth and find a proper candidate, much less a proper willing candidate? Still, she realized, no one else is as qualified as herself…

"I'll do it," She said. "It won't be easy; I can guarantee, it won't be quick; but I accept the challenge."

"Then it is decided," said Alpha Trion. "And Sari, since the first two human technorganics have been femmes – yourself and Chandra, we have chosen the last sparkling protoform to be a mech."

* * *

It's been six months since Sari had undertaken her search. She'd enlisted the help of Nathan and the ambassador staff, as well as Sumdac Interplanetary Systems. Adam helped develop a database management system to catalog and keep track of the candidates, and the candidate list was finally winnowed down to a few, which Sari would interview in her New York office.

The final set of interviews took the better course of a week. Sari was impressed by all, but on the final day, she sat down to study the last candidates' folder. The old expression about "the best was saved for last" seemed to hold true in this instance. Sari liked everything she read!

"Husband a computer science prodigy, went to MIT at the age of 16. Rhodes Scholar. Works for Sumdac Interplanetary Systems, Computer Division. Married 10 years, childless; spouse unable to have children – sad. Wife is a nurse. Co-statement: 'Would love to raise technorganic baby as our own, and teach him the human virtues of love, kindness, compassion, and justice, tempered with self-control.'"

Everything else in the folder looked wonderful. She put it down. "I can't wait to interview these two," she thought.

The next day, Sari sat in her office, and Nathan invited the couple in. The husband was young, energetic, with spiky brown hair, square shaped glasses, and a ready smile. His wife was pretty, with black hair, bright brown eyes, and a broad smile. Sari stood and offered a handshake.

"Dr. Esquivel, Mrs. Esquivel, very nice to meet you both," she said.

"Please," said the husband, returning the handshake, "call me Raf."

"June," said his wife, turning to shake Sari's hand.

"Please, sit down," said Sari.

**So Sari has finally learned about her origins, although they were certainly not what she ever expected! And now the Autobot High Council and the Science Guild want her to choose a couple who would raise the last human technorganic; he will be a mech!**

**By the way, this is not the same June and Raf as in "Transformers Prime", since "Transformers Animated" takes place in the late 22****nd**** century. Any similarities to those characters are purely coincidental (wink); consider it an "homage". Thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sari makes an annual trip to pay her respects to a friend, and to meditate on the past year's events as well as gain strength for the things which lie ahead.**

After concluding one of her meetings with the Autobot High Council, Sari signed out a small shuttle and set course for the Autobot Mausoleum. The mausoleum is set adrift in the Hadeen system, between the orbits of Galleon and Thuvia, and the trip there takes less than one Solar Cycle.

The journey was silent and peaceful, and Sari enjoyed the solitude, looking out at the stars and the empty expanse of space. The only sound that reached her audio processors was the occasional quiet beep of the console monitor.

"I'm in luck," Sari thought, "I'm passing near Belegaer this year." Belegaer was colonized over 6 billion years ago by the Cybertronian race, and has more rings than Saturn. "Their rings are absolutely beautiful!" she remarked, as her shuttle passed by. She remembered a time when she and Optimus had a meeting with the Belegaenans, and she had a chance to see the rings from the surface.

Later on in the journey, she reminisced about the past year's events. Chandra was now almost three, and quite a handful! Developmentally she was closer to a six-year old, and she and Julie had decided that it would be best to have her educational needs met with robo-tutors, much like Sari had received when growing up in Sumdac Tower. "I know my Dad did that to protect me," thought Sari, "but now, seeing how rapidly Chandra's mental development is progressing, I'll bet he also designed those bots to keep pace with my Autobot processor." Luckily, Sumdac Interplanetary Systems has an Educational Division, and their newest models were well suited to keep up with her growing educational needs. "And Julie, what a gem! She's so good with Chandra, they get along so well."

She then thought about Raf and June, and their new technorganic baby. "What wonderful parents! They named him Samuel. That was the most beautiful experience, witnessing his 'birth'! When Raf touched the sparkling protoform, I felt like I was watching my own birth. The electric shock came out of the little protoform, went up Raf's arm, and he flew back onto the floor; good thing we put some cushions there! He lay unconscious for several seconds, while the miracle took place. Firestar was recording everything so Daddy could watch it later. The sparkling protoform, having absorbed his DNA, began transforming. The silvery-white shape churned, emitting a pulsing, soft white glow as it processed the DNA sequences. Gradually, its shape began to change, exchanging the alien protoform look for that of a more human pattern. Finally, the body of a baby boy appeared. Shaking, it began to cry. June helped Raf up, he rubbed his eyes, and walking over to the pod, picked Sam up. Cradling him in his arms, he took Sam close to his chest and brought him to June. Tears welled up in Mom's and Dad's eyes. It was glorious!"

"Of course, Raf's got that white streak in his hair now, just like my Dad did!" Sari chuckled to herself.

And then, Sari thought back about the things she had learned about her own origins. Her mood darkened a bit as she thought about how close she came to being, not the daughter of Isaac Sumdac, but the daughter of some filthy terrorist warlord – and the technorganic servant of Megatron! "If not for the stupid mistake of that groveling sycophant Starscream," she thought, "what would have happened to me?"

Looking out at the vast emptiness of space, she suddenly felt very small. The temptation entered her processor: Was her life just a random flip of a coin? Why would the AllSpark care? For what purpose?

Her shuttle began to approach its destination. The Autobot Mausoleum is an angular, roughly barge-shaped craft, with a flat landing platform at the front for visiting ships. Roughly the size of earth's Manhattan Island, it is 22 km long, 4 km wide, and 500 meters deep. She turned her processor away from its musings and switched on her comm.

"Autobot Spanner IV, requesting landing privileges," Sari spoke to the Autobot botting the mausoleum's control tower.

"Roger, Spanner IV, proceed to landing bay Sigma Two Four," responded the control tower.

The administrative center is located at the landing end, and is taller than the rest of the mausoleum. It is a five-sided building adjacent to one end of the landing platform, and also serves as the control tower for guiding ships to their docking station. Sari piloted her shuttle to the designated landing bay. She powered down the shuttle and entered the administrative center.

"Hello. May I help you?" asked the Curator. "Are you here to pay your respects to a particular Autobot?"

"Yes, Curator. I've come to pay my respects to the Autobot known as Prowl," said Sari.

"Prowl? Oh yes," said the Curator, checking his database. "You can find Prowl's tomb at sector 122R, location 10027, in the Veil of Remembrance. Board the tram at the end of the hallway and it will take you there."

"Thank you, Curator," and Sari walked down the hallway and got on the tram. "Location, please," asked the tram voice. "Sector 122R, location 10027," she answered. The tram took off.

As it neared the section of the mausoleum known as the Veil of Remembrance, the tram spoke of that location's importance: "The memorial known as the 'Veil of Remembrance' is the final resting place of the chassis and servos of fallen Autobot heroes. Among its honored dead, is the final resting place for the Autobots that were lost in the Great War."

Sari made annual visits to the Autobot Mausoleum, but making a passage through the enormous entrance of the Veil of Remembrance always inspired her. Large Eternal Flames burned on either side of the entryway. Above the opening was an inscription in brilliant Cybertronic lettering: "We shall not forget them. Nor fail to reward that which was given: Courage, Valor, Honor."

The tram passed by seemingly innumerable tombs of Autobot heroes from past battles, most from the Great War. Each one had a coffin with the name of the honored dead etched in something luminous, an official plaque, a large Autobot insignia and a little Eternal Flame. On top of the casket was a hologram of the departed.

The tram went for what seemed several kilometers, then came to a stop. "Sector 122R, location 10027," it announced. "Honored Autobot Prowl. Sacrificed his spark to save the people of Earth's city of Detroit from a weapon of mass destruction set by the Decepticons Megatron and Starscream."

Sari got off the tram and stood before Prowl's tomb. On it in glowing gold was etched his name, "Prowl". His plaque described his selfless deed:

_**The evil Decepticons Megatron and Starscream had unleashed clones of Omega Supreme on the earth city of Detroit with weapons of mass destruction, intending to destroy not only the Autobots, but the entire human population. Cyber-Ninjas Prowl and Jazz, using Processor-Over-Matter, attempted to gather the power of the AllSpark, which had been shattered across the landscape, to stop the impending explosion.**_

_**But try as they might, Prowl and Jazz were unable to muster enough AllSpark fragments to serve their needs; some fragments were missing! With the Omega Supreme clones threatening to blow up the city and everything within a 160-km radius, Prowl levitated himself up towards the AllSpark fragment collection and relinquished his own spark. With one last serene smile, Prowl was lost momentarily in a flash of light and fell lifeless into Jazz' arms.**_

_**This last act enveloped the Omega Supreme clones in an AllSpark-powered shell, defusing the explosion into a harmless puff of smoke. With this single selfless act, Prowl saved the lives of not only his Autobot comrades, but millions of humans.**_

His hologram depicted Prowl with Master Yoketron's helmet. His coffin was in Prowl's colors: black, gold and grey.

Sari crouched down in Lotus position and began to meditate. Soon, the Veil of Remembrance surroundings fell away. She left her body, and she was in a formless, white void.

"_Sari"_

"_Prowl"_

"_I'm glad you're here"_

"_As am I"_

"_I sense much has happened in your Spark"_

"_I learned my origins"_

"_Great closure for you, Sari. A long journey come to an end"_

"_Yet, my beginnings were on the edge of a knife"_

"_Sari, do not be frightened; you are never alone. The AllSpark is with you, and delivered you down from that knife edge. Always remember that"_

"_I will, Prowl"_

"_I sense new beginnings, Sari"_

"_My daughter is growing fast, and a new human technorganic has been formed"_

"_You will be a Sensei for both of them, and a guide for the new human parents"_

"_It brings me great joy"_

"_That is your highest calling, Sari"_

"_Thank you, Prowl"_

"_You are destined for great things"_

"_It is my desire to honor that calling"_

"_You will, Sari"_

"_Goodbye, Prowl"_

"_Farewell, my friend"_

Sari returned to her body, and the Veil of Remembrance surroundings reassembled around her. She got up, returned to the tram, and left the mausoleum with a strengthened sense of herself.

**It is Sari's Spark bond with Prowl that has been an important guide through her life, and her link with him in the Well of All Sparks is a source of strength and comfort. She can feel his presence when near his tree at Autobot Central, but especially at his tomb in the Veil of Remembrance. She began making this annual trip to the Autobot Mausoleum shortly after Jazz had first brought her when he became her Sensei. Thanks for reading.**


End file.
